Standard Disclaimer: The characters ain't mine, I'm just borrowing their strings for a while, so don't sue me please! Please point out any errors in grammar or spelling privately and I will correct them.
Chapter 14 – Full Circle
Red frowned as she rifled through her clothing drawers, searching for her necklace with the crescent moon pendant she had hidden away earlier that month. Dressed only in a white silk slip with her hair already perfectly styled, she was trying valiantly to keep calm but with little success. It just had to be today of all days – the second most important of her life – for her to lose her most beloved worldly possession. As it just so happened, today was Red's wedding day.
Feeling a sense of familiarity at the situation wash over her, she clenched her eyes shut and strained to think of where else the necklace might be. She could very distinctly recall the day she'd ferreted the necklace away; it was a Monday afternoon some weeks before in which a certain little girl named Clementine with a penchant for confiscating jewelry was spending the afternoon with her godparents, Snow and David. Having Clementine out of the house afforded the perfect opportunity for Red to hide her priceless necklace, which just so happened to be the girl's favorite to 'borrow' when playing a certain game. In order to be triply sure it could not be located by Clementine for the next several weeks, Red carefully packed the necklace up in a small nondescript box, stuffed that into a black jewelry pouch, and then tucked said pouch away inside a pair of her lacy red stockings. It was a convoluted solution to be sure, but Clementine was a very clever girl, which Red ought to know since she was her mother.
Speaking of the game Clementine loved to play, Regina – Clementine's 'Mommy' – did not at all approve of it. Dressing up in an all black ensemble replete with leather boots and a fake hook made of a mangled metal coat hanger, Clementine would sail the Seven Seas of 108 Mifflin Street in her cardboard Jolly Roger whilst in search of 'booty' (mainly in the form of her Mama's vast assortment of necklaces) just like her uncle Killian had taught her. Not only did Regina loathe her daughter's enormous affection for 'Captain Guyliner', but she also thought it wildly inappropriate for a five year old girl to both be exposed to so unsavory a trade as pirating was and to be loosely using a term that can be grossly misconstrued as vulgar. Red on the other hand thought Clementine's game was hilarious, though that amusement was always tempered by an icy glare from Regina that made her want to curl up in a corner somewhere and whimper pitifully with her tail tucked tightly between her legs.
But even though the game was innocent and quite frankly adorable, that didn't mean Red didn't get tired of her necklaces going missing as casualties of her daughter's vivid imagination. Red loved her necklaces, always had; in fact, her fondness of that particular fashion accessory was the one thing that stuck from her time as Ruby – well, that and her hats, Red loved her hats too. In the years since the Curse broke, she had added all sorts of necklaces to her collection, from a platinum piece with a braided chain and an apple pendant to various gold, white gold, and stainless steel pieces with pendants depicting a wide range of things, such as a rearing horse, a howling wolf, a picnic basket, and even one whose charm was an apple tree expertly crafted out of wire and stained glass.
While Red loved all of her necklaces, none of them were as precious to her as the one Regina had gifted to her, and as such, she had decided to not take any chances of Clementine getting her greedy little hands on it. The hope had been that the astute little girl would not notice there was a key piece of jewelry missing from the box she often raided for her 'booty' and would go on about her playtime without bothering to put forth any further effort into searching for it. If Red had learned anything from both being around Henry when he was younger and from her own experience raising Clementine, it was that kids tended to be impulsive to the point that the prospect of exhaustive effort to find something was an immediate discouragement. She had been relying on that to be true. However, it was clear now that she had underestimated her daughter and that she should not have been so dismissive of either the child's intelligence or determination.
But just to be sure, Red proceeded to diligently search through every other pair of stockings and pantyhose she owned at least twice in the proceeding minutes. When continued fruitless searches yielded no results, panic started to set in, so she expanded her search to other clothing drawers. As she tore consecutively through those containing her socks, underwear, and sleeping shirts without success, she was left with little alternative as to where the blame lay. It seemed that Clementine, even after several previous warnings, had indeed been rifling through her mother's sexy drawer again, and if that was proven the case as Red expected it would be, she was going to have to sit her mischievous daughter down for a very serious talk later.
However, at the moment she was not so concerned about interrogating Clementine, if only for the reason that she was rushed for time. She needed to find that necklace and soon. With only an hour to spare before the ceremony started, time was of the essence and her necklace was the one thing she couldn't bear to get married without since it was the first genuine gift Regina ever gave her with no strings attached to it. Also, there was the not-so-insignificant fact that Regina had put a great amount of thought, time, and effort into crafting it, and seeing as that was the case, the necklace was far from being just another piece of jewelry to Red. As weird as it may seem it had transcended such distinctions, having become a piece of her history that was even more irreplaceable than her famous red cloak. So aside from an act of God or some unforeseen catastrophe, the only thing that could possibly sully her joy at finally marrying the love of her life was if she were forced to so without that meaningful symbol of her life with Regina hanging around her neck and resting over her heart where it belonged.
"Dammit, Clemmy!" Red shouted angrily to the empty room, fighting against tears as she sank to the bed in despair. She wasn't really angry at her daughter so much as she was disappointed with herself. If she'd used her brain like she should have, perhaps she might have come up with a more sensible solution such as entrusting the necklace to Snow or Emma for safekeeping. But she had thought to solve the problem herself, so that left no one else to blame, really. It was her own stupidity that landed her in this situation.
"Looking for this?" A very familiar voice called out from the doorway of her chambers a few moments later.
In a powerful flash of déjà vu, Red's eyes snapped up to find Snow hovering in her doorway, a teasing smile plastered across her face.
Red stopped breathing out of reflex. Despite the other woman's short stature and bubbly demeanor, she seemed in that moment to cut a very imposing figure, a vision of beauty in a swirling ruby red dress. As a rather reserved person by nature, Snow tended to shy away from such bold colors but Red knew it was for her sake that Snow had assented to wear the bold colors she'd chosen for her Matron of Honor's dress.
"You're family, Red," Snow had told her at the fitting. "I'd wear a burlap sack to your wedding if that made you happy."
That wouldn't have made Red happy at all, but the sweetness of the offer did make her feel like squeezing Snow until she popped, an impulse Red was only barely able to suppress. But however modest Snow might be in her everyday life, Red had to admit that she was totally rocking the look and ought to do it more. With her pixie cut parted just to the right, makeup artfully applied, and lips painted a satin red, it was almost like the demure Mary Margaret had been banished for good right along with the prim and proper Snow White. What was left behind was a smoking hot paradox of a person who was both her former and latter selves yet neither all at the same time, a state of being not at all unique to the former bandit princess.
Even for Red it was strange dealing with the lingering effects of the Curse being broken. Having two sets of memories in one brain was complicated and uncomfortable on the best of days, but on the bad ones where her dichotomous memories along with her unsettled wolf were clattering about her head like gemstones in a rock tumbler, she often suffered from debilitating headaches that came out nowhere. Because Red was stubborn as a mule, she never let anyone see her pain, working through it like a champ without complaint. But even so, the blistering pain could get so severe she would often stumble home from work just in time to vomit. Afterward, Regina would always see her to bed while apologizing profusely for her role in the sickness, aware as she was of what was causing the headaches. The thing was, Red did not blame Regina, just as she did not blame Regina for any of the other crappy things that had happened to her.
"Life just sucks sometimes," she often said to ease her girlfriend's conscience when such migraines were met by an effusion of unnecessary guilt. "And this is one of those times. Nothing to be sorry about."
Most of the time Regina held onto her remorse but on the occasion the offerings of compassion were accepted, some of that guilt she wore around her shoulders and which so often clouded her eyes was dispelled, reminding Red of why she chose to forgive rather than to hold on to grudges. Life was too short to spend blaming someone else for what she was going through, even though that person might well bear responsibility. Almost dying tended to put such things in perspective. Red had not been a vindictive or begrudging person before nearly bleeding to death on Regina's front porch, but that incident had certainly made her more appreciative of the good things in her life, and other than Clementine, Regina was the best of those things. So while the torment of having two sets of memories in one brain could be incapacitating, it was just something that Red had learned to live with over time.
Not everyone suffered such physical manifestations of their internal dilemmas, as for some it was much easier to cope with the influx of memories than it had been for Red. Those fortunate individuals seemed to be those which had a clear preference between the two opposing lives, enabling them to easily discard one set as unimportant, a blip in the radar not worth their time. The life they did not want to remember they willingly chose to ignore in favor of the one that was, to them, the better of them. It came as no small surprise to Red that nearly all of those people chose to be identified as their cursed selves. Just as she'd told Henry, Emma, and Regina that fateful day the Curse was broken, Storybrooke was not a bad thing at all and it was nice to have people who agreed with her.
But to others things were not so cut and dried, as with her own case. People with cherished memories from both lives had a more difficult time adapting to the clashing personalities and recollections battling inside their brains. Most of Red's friends were in this camp, as was Snow, who had many memories she clung to from both lives. From the Enchanted Forest, for instance, Snow relished the memories of her parents, of falling in love with Charming, and of her time on the run with Red as two young girls against the world having the time of their lives. Yet, she also held dear certain memories from Storybrooke, notable among them the children she'd invested 28 years into teaching and above all, the time she'd spent getting to know Emma before she was awakened to the realization that her new best friend was really her daughter.
But like with most everyone else battling between dual personalities, with time the warring nature of the conflicting personas began to fade into the background in order for a new person to emerge. Snow was a prime example of this for the woman standing before Red now was not the same daring bandit she had adventured with for so many years, nor was she the diffident pushover she'd once been under the Dark Curse. In learning to live with two sets of lives, Snow had taken the best of each and used the differences to mold herself into someone better: a healthy, thriving mix of who she used to be, who she was presently, and who she was becoming. In doing so, Snow had become a person who Red was more proud than ever to call a friend.
Though in many ways Emma had sort of risen to her mother's equal in esteem, Red had never felt as kindred with Snow as she did right then. After going through so much together, Snow was still a faithful companion that she could not imagine living without. It had been Snow, after all, who was the first to embrace Red for who she really was, and who had stood by her during many of her lowest moments such as when she was grieving her mother's death. Were it not for Snow's patient friendship, Red was not sure she would have made it through those trying weeks that followed that particularly heartrending tragedy.
For days, all Red had wanted to do was cry or sleep or stare listlessly into nothing while awake, but Snow simply refused to let her suffer alone. In an act of selflessness Red would never forget, one night Snow crawled up beside Red in their little shanty, sliding beneath the worn blankets they had procured from a friendly farmer and burrowing into her side. As she rested her head over Red's heart she began to bare the pain of her own similar loss, speaking at length and with much sadness about her own mother and of how she had possessed the means to save her but had chosen not to because it would mean trading one life for another.
The sharing of such sensitive information startled Red so much that she hadn't dared speak. The few times previously she had inquired about Snow's mother, she was met with a stony silence that told her she'd overstepped her bounds, followed by a curt, "I'd rather not talk about it," and a change of subject that Red was never brave enough to comment on. She'd learned quickly that subject was one best left undisturbed. Yet with Red in the throes of mourning, Snow cast off all reservations that had once restrained her from opening up, freely baring her old wounds just so her friend would not feel so alone.
With heavy emotion inflected in her voice, Snow then began to describe how it felt to hold her mother's hand while she died, to feel the life literally drain out of the person she loved most in the whole world knowing it was her fault. Her mother, Snow had said, was the one who taught her everything she knew about life and was responsible for whatever goodness there was in her heart, and yet she had died without understanding how much she was loved or how cherished and needed she was. That her mother died the way she did, Snow then confessed, made it seem as if all of her hopes and dreams for the future died along with her, only to be sealed up in an iron coffin and then buried in the cold, pitiless earth.
Over time, Red came to understand that carrying such a cumbersome amount of guilt over her part in her mother's death was why Snow loved the way she did. Since she felt so keenly that she had failed the person she loved most, she was hellbent on never allowing another person she cared for to die without having given them every bit of her heart she had to offer and without spending every ounce of her effort on them. More than anything else, it was Snow's practice of an all or nothing approach to love that inspired Red to love someone as, for lack of a better term, unlovable as Regina had once been.
And yet it wasn't just romantic love that Red learned from Snow but the platonic variety as well. That Snow loved her deeply was never in doubt, for it was evident in so many ways both past and present. Back in the Enchanted Forest, Snow had accepted her and supported her when no one else would, going so far as to risk her life for Red on numerous occasions. Snow's was a true friendship, one that was sure enough to withstand the test of time, and because of that, even post-Dark Curse, her friendship had not changed. Red was thankful every day for the grace of the dainty yet lionhearted woman's presence in her life because Snow was a source of comfort and strength from which she could draw during the many hardships in life that came her way both personally and externally.
In Storybrooke, which seemed to be a nexus of monumental activity, things were never at peace for long before some threat emerged, and whenever that happened, Snow White, the diminutive woman with a giant personality, could always be counted on to rise to the occasion. Never one content to bark orders from the sidelines or skulk from her responsibilities, Snow was never far from the thick of things for she understood that she was not the type of person who could demand or command loyalty and obedience by sheer force of personality – such as Regina was. Rather, Snow was of the type who lead by her courageous actions. Always first into battle, quick to put herself in harm's way before asking such of anyone else, Snow drew people to her in such a way that they gave her their undying loyalty and would follow her into the very pits of Hell if she were to ask it of them. And even if no one else felt that way, Red certainly did.
Yet it wasn't just in moments of crisis that Snow shined the brightest, for she was always there with an ear to listen with or a shoulder to cry on whenever Red was reeling from some existential crisis or from the earth tilting aftereffects of a particularly bad fight with Regina. Not that fights with Regina were frequent, it was just when they did happen they were explosive and loud and angry encounters that were too often typified by slamming doors and screaming curses or insults that invariably left one of them wallowing in miserable guilt as the other limped off the emotional battlefield with a shredded ego and eviscerated feelings. And while they always had enough sense not to fight around the kids, that small comfort never helped Red cope after Regina had said something that cut her to the bone or vice-versa. Whenever one of those rare knock down and drag outs happened, Red invariably ran to Snow, for with her best friend, her sister, there was never any judgment or unsolicited advice, just the steady, calming presence of a woman whose capacity for compassion surpassed any other on earth.
Though Snow was not without her faults, if there was ever a woman born to be a mother, a wife, and a friend, it was in Red's opinion, her. So when it came time for Red to choose who would stand beside her at her wedding, there was really no choice to be made at all. Granny would be giving her away but it would be Snow who was at her side while she took her vows and that was just the way it was meant to be.
Swallowing thickly at her thoughts, when Red caught a glint coming from Snow's hands, she cut her eyes to see what it was. There, dangling from outstretched fingertips was her precious ametite necklace. With the golden chain glinting in the sunlight, the stone seemed to pulsate slowly as if it had come alive all of the sudden and was glowing with an almost wispy aura of crimson light. Perhaps in a way, Red mused, it had come to life. When Regina cast the wards into the stone, she linked them to the energy that made Red magical, and since this was the day Red had been dreaming of since she was a little girl, her entire body was thrumming with so much energy that were she able to pull her own heart out of her chest, she was pretty sure it would be emitting a similar radiance as the stone.
With wide eyes, Red tore her gaze away from the necklace and glanced back up to find Snow full of amusement. "Where did you find it?" she breathed, relief flooding her system.
Snow smirked, her eyes twinkling. "Take a guess."
Sighing, Red rubbed her forehead, being careful not to smear any of her painstakingly applied make-up. "Clementine." So at least she was not crazy. That was good. Although, she thought ruefully, looks like I'm gonna have to have that little talk with Clemmy after all and that is not so good.
"Got it in one," Snow sang. "I found her wearing it while twirling around the living room pretending to be her Mama dancing at her wedding. It was very cute."
Red rolled her eyes. "Yeah," she said, managing to smile at the image of her daughter Snow had conjured despite her slight annoyance. "She is that and it's a good thing, 'cause if she wasn't, I'd take her back." Sometimes Red truthfully felt that way, though only for a little while when she was struggling not to tear her hair out at the roots due to her daughter's mule-like obstinance.
"Red!" Snow exclaimed in disbelief, only halfway serious with her chiding. "What a terrible thing to say about your child."
"It's true, though," Red insisted to a skeptical looking Snow.
"Oh, it isn't all that bad. She's an angel when she comes over to play with Evan."
Red scoffed. "Of course you'd say that! You're 'Auntie M&M' and only get to see Clemmy the fun-loving and adorable kid who is rainbows and unicorns and bouncing chestnut curls. You're not around when Clemmy the monster comes out to play. Nooooo. It's Regina and I that have to deal with her then. You should come around some time when she's in one of her moods...change your tune right quick."
Laughing, Snow folded her arms across her chest and pouted mockingly. "Poor Red. Years on the run from an Evil Queen and almost three decades living under a curse...only to be done in by a five year old."
"But Snow, she's not just a five year old," Red replied, wide-eyed for exaggerated effect. "She's a five year old who acts just like her mother: too smart for her own good, ridiculously stubborn, sassy, domineering, vindictive, hateful, petty and she can be downright mean."
"Hmm, yet those very traits were part of what attracted you to Regina in the first place were they not?" Snow countered sagely. That the point was accurate only aggravated Red. "And anyways, you always said you enjoyed a good challenge, so I don't really see why you're complaining." Huffing, Red glared daggers at her oldest friend which only made Snow smirk again for a brief second, after which her facial muscles smoothed out to a more tender expression meant to disarm Red's growing annoyance before it ruined her day. "And you forget that while Clementine is very much like her mother in those ways, she is in other ways as well. She can be sweet, too, and giving, and thoughtful, and immensely loving, and at the very least, she is always entertaining."
It worked, damn her, Red thought, chuckling despite herself at the last one. "That is true, I guess. Never a dull moment with that little imp around."
Never a dull moment, indeed. Clementine was every bit the handful. Snow really had no idea. It constantly took Red by surprise how a child could be so funny and happy one moment and downright devious the next.
There was one time in particular that sprang to mind in which Red left Clementine in her room playing with her Elsa and Anna dolls while she went downstairs to start dinner. Regina had been running late, so Red had to whip something up on the fly and had decided to make a meatloaf using Granny's secret recipe, which incidentally Regina adored. Red had figured it killed two birds with one stone since it was both relatively easy to prepare and would earn her some brownie points with her sometimes tempestuous paramour.
She was only downstairs for about half an hour and was just putting the meatloaf in the oven when the real life Elsa and Anna came barreling through the front door. Being a werewolf meant Red was always ready to defend herself and her family, so when Regina wasn't home, she left the door unlocked. Cursing herself for that arrogance, she rushed out of the kitchen to intercept whoever had burst into the house. Seconds later, she entered the hallway to see what was going on, only to discover the royal sisters in their casual clothes, hunched over at the waist looking like they'd sprinted the entire two blocks from their shared 'vacation' home next door to Emma.
"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Red had asked the red faced sisters.
"Clemmy called," Elsa replied, her eyes wide with fright as she straightened up at Red's address.
"Yeah," Anna added, still panting slightly though also managing to respond in a very Anna-like way. "She said it was a life or death situation, which I found odd because surely you and Regina can handle almost anything, but then I thought, 'hey, this is Clemmy we're talking about and she doesn't lie and she's so very smart and..."
"Anna," a much calmer Elsa interrupted, cutting an indulgent grin to Red who returned it. "Slow down. Take a breath. And yes, what Anna said is correct. We were informed that something terrible had happened and we just acted without thinking. I'm sorry."
"Well, don't be. You did the right thing," Red had replied, grateful for how much her friends cared but already suspicious of her daughter. First of all, Anna was terribly naive, and while it got her in a lot of trouble, it was an adorable trait; but secondly, Clementine most certainly could lie and had done so on a number of occasions to both of her mothers. As such, Red would not put it past her wily child to concoct some absurd scenario just to get Elsa and Anna to visit.
Since in her hurry to see who had barged in the house she'd not bothered to take her oven mitts off, Red hurriedly stuffed them into the back pockets of her jeans and then ushered the Queen and Princess of Arendelle more properly into her home. Once both were up on the landing, she lead them over to the stairs and then took a deep breath, preparing herself for whatever surprise awaited her in her daughter's room. "Alright, let's go see what's up."
When the three of them reached Clementine's bedroom, they all stopped in unison in the doorway. To Red's horror, her daughter had completely demolished the miniature Ice Castle Elsa had magically created as a gift for her birthday and which was enchanted to never melt. Considering who was currently staring disbelievingly at said disaster area along with her, that discovery was quite mortifying, but as if that were not enough, both the Elsa and Anna dolls (which just so happened to be Clementine's 'mostest favorites in the whole wide world') were lying headless and armless in the wreckage as well. Standing over them was a doe-eyed Clementine, crocodile tears running down her cheeks as she clutched her plushy Marshmallow in an overly tight grip.
"Why'd you do that, Marshmallow?" she asked the inanimate object the same instant she caught her audience staring at her, though she pretended not to see them. It was a ruse Red was well acquainted with. The child was absolutely duplicitous when she wanted to be. "You kill't them and blowed up the castle! Now I can't play with Elsa and Anna no more. I'm gonna tell Mama and she's gonna put your ass in time out!"
"Clementine Elena Mills!" Red had shouted, flushing with chagrin. "We don't use that kind of language in this house." Behind her, she heard Anna sniggering which prompted Elsa to elbow her soon after, eliciting a protested squeak of, 'hey!'
Turning big, liquid blue eyes up as if totally prepared for her mother's reaction, Clementine replied, "But you do it all the time! I hear you. You say other words, too, like holy shi..."
"Clemmy! Don't even finish that!" Red had burst out, now borderline humiliated. She was sure at the time that her face could rival her cloak for brilliance in hue. "I don't care what you've heard Mama say, those words are not appropriate for young ladies like yourself! And besides that, if your Mommy found out you heard them from me, she'd kill me and then you'd have bury me and would never see me again. Is that what you want?" Red felt a little bad for the guilt trip but she'd been so flustered that the words just sort of tumbled out.
Her chin quivering, Clementine shuffled her little feet back and forth. "No, Mama."
"Then I don't want to hear that kind of...stuff...anymore. Okay?"
Sniffling, Clementine swiped at her eyes with her sleeve. "Okay, Mama."
Sighing, Red stepped over to the mess and then dropped to her haunches to look at her child at eye level. "Now, why did you call Elsa and Anna and get them all worried?"
Gesturing at the floor, Clementine glared at her mother as if it should be obvious, suddenly appearing every inch the imperious little Queen. Typically, such displays made Regina proud as a peacock. "Anna was visiting Elsa in her snow castle and Marshmallow got mad 'cause he was hungry and so he stomped the castle down and then kill't Elsa and Anna. I seen him do it."
Red sighed. It was no fun at all parenting when Regina wasn't around to be the bad guy. As an ex-Evil Queen, she was just so good at it that her stern lectures and withering glares directed toward Clementine even made Red cringe from time to time. The woman could be so scary that she could get their daughter to obey even when Red could not while under the influence of the wolf.
It was a scientifically proven fact that when Regina was pissed, mountains quaked in their metaphorical boots, so the stubborn impudence of a five year old was no match for the fearsome displays the Queen of Mifflin Street could produce. Hell, using only her facial muscles, at a glance Regina could make Clementine either: a) immediately improve her behavior, b) go scurrying for cover while bewailing her innocence in a rather futile manner, or c) run to Red and wrap herself around her other mother's legs in a desperate bid for mercy. Whatever the outcome, the unacceptable behavior stopped. But Regina was not there that evening to be the bad guy, which left Red to deal with the problem solo.
Looking back over her shoulder, she raised incredulous eyebrows at her guests at the elaborate attempt at deflection. Both Elsa and Anna were barely holding back their giggles, and to be honest, Red was too because it was pretty damn impressive for a five year old to tell such an absurd lie in such a convincing manner. Yet, as Clementine's mother, she had to be in serious mode for the moment so she schooled her features into her best expression of motherly disapproval.
"Sweetheart," Red then said to her daughter, "Marshmallow is just a toy. He doesn't have feelings. You know this. So I think that it was you who was hungry and got mad and that it was you who knocked the castle down and broke the dolls." When Clementine started to protest, Red shushed her with a warning noise. "Tell the truth, young lady."
Ducking her head down as her shoulders sank, Clementine kicked at a broken piece of what was once a set of stairs. "It was me. I'm sorry, Mama."
At the somewhat heartfelt apology, Red smothered her grin. Extending her hand out toward her semi-repentant daughter, she then said, "That's better. Now...give Mama her phone back, please."
Pouting, Clementine walked over to her bed, retrieved Red's phone and then placed it in her hand, all without speaking.
"Thank you."
Still pouting, Clementine shrugged her shoulders. Unable to endure it anymore, Red reached out to smooth a hand over her daughter's hair. "I love you, baby."
And those were the magic words. Suddenly, Clementine launched herself at Red, hopping up into her mother's arms and throwing her legs around her waist as she began to whimper. "It's okay, Clemmy," Red soothed, gently rubbing her daughter's back. "I forgive you, but you can't take out your anger on your toys, even though I know it's really fun to break stuff. Remember what Mommy says?"
Nodding, Clementine tucked her head against her mother's shoulder and sighed, melting all of Red's earlier anger and embarrassment away. "In this house we use our words."
"Mmhmm, that's right," Red confirmed, "so remember that next time, okay?" Clementine nodded. Turning toward the door where Anna and Elsa were still hovering, Red found that in the time it took her to chastise her daughter, their amusement at Clementine's antics had been replaced by overly saccharine expressions that made Red smile with nearly equal sentimentality. "But," she redirected her attention to Clementine, "since they're already here, maybe if they were asked nicely Elsa and Anna might be convinced to stay for dinner. Would you like that?"
Raising up in her mother's arms, Clemmy's entire demeanor transformed. In the blink of an eye she was beaming at both Red and the royal guests in equal measure. "Yes, yes! Oh, please, Mama, please! Aunties," she then looked at Elsa and Anna, pleading at them with her irresistible baby blues, "will you stay? Please?"
"How could we possibly say no to her royal highness, Princess Clementine of Misthaven?" Elsa had replied after taking a deep bow, which delighted Clemmy to no end since she loved to be addressed by her official title. Regina rarely permitted it, though, wanting to prevent Clementine from developing a false sense of entitlement or importance, which was good enough reason for Red. She'd never cared for titles anyway. Elsa then inclined her head toward her sister. "It would be our honor, wouldn't it, Anna?"
"Yes, of course!" Anna clapped excitedly. Striding into the room properly, she plopped down to sit cross legged next to the piled up mess on the floor. "Let's see what we can do about this castle first. Clemmy, come help me!"
After wiggling out of Red's arms, Clementine rushed over to Anna and climbed into her lap while they started to pick up the puzzle pieces together. Elsa soon joined them after commenting to Red on how precious her daughter was. If only Elsa knew, Red had thought.
The night wound up being a blast for everyone but that was just one such occasion. There were others that had endings involving screaming and crying and hour upon hour of pouting. Of course, none of that meant that Clementine wasn't adored and that she wasn't spoiled. With so many aunts and uncles and an older brother who lived to dote on her, that was kind of unavoidable. One thing was for sure, though: life was never dull with Clementine on the loose, which was why both of her mothers often worried about the possibility of prematurely graying, particularly her more elegant parent, although the thought of Regina with gray hair was not at all unappealing.
Like Henry, Clementine was blessed to have Regina as a mother. Although it was Red who carried their daughter and shared DNA with her, it was Regina who was the apple of Clementine's eye. While Red knew her daughter loved her (and she adored her little girl right back), whenever Mommy walked in the room, it was bye-bye Mama as she ran headlong into Regina's arms. For anyone else, that might have been a source of envy, but not for Red. She loved that Clementine was so attached to Regina. Hell, Red understood because she was pretty attached to Regina, too. Still, while it didn't bother Red at all, many found it strange that Clementine preferred Regina since biologically they were unrelated.
When Red had first started discussing the possibility of having a child with her partner, Regina confessed that she'd taken a potion when younger that rendered herself barren so she was unable to carry a child. It was a disappointing blow for Red who had really wanted a kid with Regina's skin tone and hair color. But when it came down to it, DNA was inconsequential, an opinion which Regina obviously shared since she had adopted Henry and loved him with a fierceness that even a lioness could not reproduce. All that mattered to Red was that she wanted a baby with Regina, so she didn't really care how that happened.
It was almost six years ago now that they decided to go ahead with their plans. After scouring the area for fertility clinics, they found a doctor with high enough recommendations that Regina felt comfortable consulting. After thoroughly examining Red, he recommended artificial insemination due to Red's startlingly good health in both physiological and reproductive terms. When they got home, Red had went to great length to give Regina an out if she was feeling uncomfortable but her partner had insisted she was fine and wanted to proceed so long as Red was willing, which Red enthusiastically asserted that she was.
During the initial process that followed, Regina's proclamation that she was fine seemed to be sorely tested. In the waiting room, she had paced back and forth like a caged tigress, chewing on her fingernails in a very uncharacteristic show of nerves. The longer time went on, the more Regina stressed, and the more Red worried. Red had thought several times during the wait that they would wind up back home with Regina in tears because she was unable to make it through even the selection process and had ruined things for them both. But despite how jittery she was, Regina held herself together long enough for it to come time to pick a donor.
As they sat in a private room flipping through a book of individuals who had opted to include pictures of themselves along with their statistics and medical histories, they came across a young man that actually made Regina gasp. His name was Ryan Fletcher and according to his details he had been studying to enter the intelligence field in some capacity. When Red had looked at Regina, who went stone cold still, she'd found her girlfriend studying the book with a stricken expression, her face as pale as Red had ever seen.
"What's wrong?"
"I..." Regina had begun, eyes wide in disbelief. "I don't know how...I mean, it can't be possible. How could it? I watched it. I saw him die. I...I don't understand."
"What are you talking about, Babe?" Red had frowned, confused about the reaction.
Regina pointed to the picture of Mr. Fletcher. "That man...he has Daniel's face. And it's not just that he looks like Daniel. I mean, that is literally Daniel's face."
That rocked Red's world almost as much as Regina's. She'd heard the story from Regina herself of how Cora crushed Daniel's heart in front of Regina as a punishment for committing the sin of choosing her own fate rather than the one Cora had planned out for her. After echoing Regina's disbelief, they went on to study the man's information. He was very different, Regina commented, from the stable boy who had preferred being outdoors and working with animals to the cold, clinical profession Mr. Fletcher had chosen to pursue. Because of that difference and the fact that the man had been born outside Storybrooke, they concluded it could not have been Daniel, but the coincidence was startling all the same.
Yet, even when considering how unnerving it was at first, the more Red thought about it, the more it had seemed like destiny was at work, and to her amazement Regina actually agreed. Thus their choice was made. Another week later, Red went in for the procedure and found out two weeks afterward that she was pregnant.
Unfortunately, Regina was not there to hear the happy news, for the day after the procedure, Henry was kidnapped by what turned out to be his great-grandfather, a fact that made Red question how convoluted the family trees back in the Enchanted Forest really were. As his mother, Regina was obviously not going to be kept away from the effort to recover him, but because there was a chance Red might be pregnant, she was unilaterally forbidden to join said rescue mission. The parting that resulted between them on the docks before departure was a bitter one, ranking right up there on Red's list of all time bad days with the Curse being cast and then her being stabbed the day it was broken.
For Red, the seven months that followed Regina leaving for Neverland were a mixture of agony and joy: she was pregnant but her partner was not with her to share in the experience. During the days, she bubbled over with happiness at the knowledge she was going to be a mother, her mask of strength firmly in place, but at night, she cried her miseries into the welcome embrace of the moonlit night, worrying incessantly about the prospect of Regina never coming back and of having to raise their baby alone.
Adding to that stress was the fact that she was adapting to the changes in her body that came along with growing a human being inside of it without Regina to help her through the transition. Every time she got a new craving, she thought of her better half, wondering whether Regina would be disgusted or delighted by Red's incessant need for cottage cheese, baby dill pickles, and vanilla bean ice cream. Even going through morning sickness was made worse by Regina's absence, for with each morning Red spent in the floor of the master bathroom, she was reminded that Regina was a world away and that she had no idea where her lover was, what she was doing, or if she was even still alive. The hormonal changes alone were difficult enough for Red to adjust to, but coping with all of that alone was torturous to the point that despondency threatened to rob her at times of the life altering developments that came along with bringing a new life into the world.
It was only due to a combination of her own sheer determination not to ruin the entire pregnancy for herself and Belle's unexpectedly patient friendship and support that got her through those seven months. But eventually the day came in which the Jolly Roger returned to Storybrooke.
Red was at home when it happened, having been ordered off her feet earlier in the day by a worried Granny who had noticed when her back began to ache to the point she couldn't hide her winces every time she so much as bent refill someones coffee. It was around noon when Granny called with the news that she had been longing to hear. Tossing the book she'd been reading to the floor, Red hastily changed out of her comfortable clothes into some maternity jeans and a shirt Belle had bought her, then bolted out of the house as fast as she could move.
By the time she arrived at the docks, the returned heroes were already disembarking down the gangplank looking exhausted and bedraggled. With excitement roiling in her chest and a knot of anxiety in her stomach, Red began waddling down toward them. But the moment she caught sight of Regina's black hair and coat, her heart sped up to the point of racing and she picked up her pace to run as fast as she could without risking her balance. She was sure she looked ridiculous trying to run at seven months pregnant, probably resembling something like a Spheniscidae version of Carl Lewis, but at the time, she hadn't cared enough to remain dignified at the expense of getting to Regina as soon as possible.
Once Red saw her too-long-absent lover reach the bottom of the gangplank, she began to scream. "Regina! Regina!"
The second Regina turned and caught sight of Red wobbling toward her, her eyes widened, and she stumbled back, nearly falling to the ground. It was only Emma's quick reflexes that steadied her enough to keep her upright, and by the time Red reached her, she was still shaky.
"Hey," Red managed to gasp out, breathing heavily from the exertion of having run so fast with twenty extra pounds of weight on top of carrying a four and a half pound baby inside of her. But Regina did not returned the greeting. Instead, she just stood there gaping like a fish as if unable to process what she was seeing. "Regina?" Red tried again, frowning with worry. "Are you okay?"
"You're..." Regina floundered, gesturing toward Red's distended abdomen. "You're...I didn't...Is it?"
"Yes, I know, and yes," Red answered each stunted question without needing elaboration, smiling at her perplexed lover. "I found out a week after you guys left. Guess the first time was the charm for me. Go, go werewolf fertility!" Giving out a faux cheer, Red noticed Emma chuckle while Granny sniggered at the attempt at humor, but Regina still looked like she was in shock. "Hey, it's okay," Red reached out for her, grasping Regina's fingers in her own. They were cold and stiff to the touch. Definitely in shock. "I'm okay. Our kid is okay. It's all good here, hon, so don't freak out on me now. I just got you back, I can't have you checking out so soon."
For whatever reason, that sentence seemed to break Regina out of her trance-like state. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry," she cried out, collapsing into Red's arms for an awkward hug due to Red's bulge before pulling back to rest her hand on said swollen belly. "I missed everything!"
"Not everything," Red reassured her, smiling through a prickling of tears she held back. She was not about to mar their reunion by sniveling like they were in some cliché movie. "She's yet to be born, so you'll get to be there for that at least."
Looking up in awe, Regina breathed out, "She?"
"Yeah," Red winced ever-so-slightly. "I wasn't sure whether or not you'd make it back in time and I didn't want to be surprised. I let Victor tell me the sex at my last appointment."
Biting her lip to the point Red though it might bleed, Regina looked absolutely guild-ridden. "I'm so very sorry, Red. You went through all of that alone. I should have been here, I should have..."
"Hey, stop with the apologies," Red cut her off, unable to abide Regina's self-flagellation. She'd had good reasons for leaving and Red told her so. "You did what you had to do. Henry is your son. He comes first."
"But I have another child to think about now..."
"Which you didn't know about. And besides, I had Granny and Belle. They helped out a lot."
Regina glanced gratefully at Granny, who nodded once as if in reference to some unspoken agreement between the two that Red was not privy to. Red had been too happy to be annoyed at the trading of insider information. "Thank you, Granny."
"Don't mention it, your Majesty," Granny replied curtly. "There's nothing I wouldn't do for my girl."
Feeling warmth spread up to the tips of her ears, Red melted. "Aww, Gran!"
"Don't even start, girl," Granny warned, stiffening for show. "I don't do mushy."
"Whatever," Red grinned and then loped up to place a sloppy kiss on her grandmother's ruddy cheek. Granny reacted by swatting her away but with the beginnings of a dimpled smile. After sidling back to Regina's side, Red ducked into her right side, burrowing her nose into Regina's neck to take several long inhales, savoring the unique scent of the woman she loved.
Settling into the arm Regina wound around her shoulder, Red let her head fall down to Regina's shoulder as her partner fixed her gaze upon Belle, looking torn between gratitude and envy.
"I suppose I owe you my thanks as well," Regina said, and Red could tell by the tone that envy was winning out.
"You do," Red confirmed in defense of her friend. Lifting her head from Regina's shoulder, she slid out from beneath her arm and took the fingers that were now dangling next to her side. Threading their fingers together, Red looked over to Belle with a smile. "When Granny couldn't come, she was with me for my doctor's visits, called me every night to check if I needed anything, and even brought me soup when I was too sick to get out of bed."
Regina's guilty look reappeared with a vengeance as she whirled on Red. "You were sick?"
"Just bad morning sickness," Red explained, cursing herself for having even mentioned it. "Like, really, really bad. But I got through it thanks to Belle here and of course, Granny."
Looking back at the aptly named Librarian who loved a man for whom Regina had a complicated set of emotions, the former Queen inclined her head in appreciation. "In that case you have my sincere gratitude, Belle. For being there for Red in my stead, I owe you a debt I'm not sure I can repay."
"Oh, it's no bother," Belle replied with genuine happiness. "She's my friend. I was glad to be there for her, not that she needed me. Don't let her sell herself short. Most of it was all her. She's strong, that one."
Regina's face softened immeasurably as she gazed at Red. "Yes, she is."
Under so much undeserved praise, Red blushed to her roots. "Stop it, you two. Millions upon millions of women have done this before me, so it's not like I'm anything special."
"But you are to me," Regina declared with undisguised devotion, gently sweeping a lock of Red's hair behind her ear.
"And to me," Henry added, stepping up to stand at his mother's side.
"Me too," said Belle.
From behind Regina, Emma gave Red a warm smile. "Count me in as well."
"And me," David chimed in, walking up to Red hand in hand with his wife.
Seeing Snow staring at her with wonder, Red asked her old friend, "And what about you?"
"You already know how I feel, Red." Her eyes misty with emotion. "You're the best person I've ever known. I'm so happy for you."
"We all are," David then agreed, grasping Red's forearm and then nodding at Regina. "For both of you. You deserve this."
Again unable to stand having so much esteem directed at her, Red ducked her head and shrugged, toeing the wooden planks of the dock platform. "Thanks, guys."
"Indeed," Regina agreed, shifting with discomfort of her own, which she then deflected by changing the subject as she was apt to do. "You have my thanks as well, though I think I need to get this one home and put her to bed." At that, she stepped forward and tugged on Red's hand. "She needs her rest if she's to deliver my child healthy."
"Gee thanks, Regina," Red groused as she let Regina lead her away from her friends, waving back behind her to their amused calls of farewell. "I do this all on my own for seven months and now that you're back, you're bossing me around and treating me like a breeding cow? I hate to break it to ya, babe, but it don't work that way."
"In my house it does," Regina grinned, clearly goading her. They'd had a lot of missed months of banter to make up for.
"Well, we're not in your house," Red countered.
"Not yet but we will be soon."
"Yes, but that's our house."
"Oh, is it? Last I checked it was my name on the deed."
"Jesus, Regina. Sometimes you drive me up the damn wall. Hey, you know what? Why don't you just go back to Neverland. It's the second star to the right and straight on till morning if you need the directions."
From the corner of her eye, Red caught Henry looking back behind him with an exasperated expression of humor on his face. Red didn't have to turn to know that their friends were also having a laugh over their repartee.
"I don't need directions, dear," Regina smirked. "I have an impeccable sense of direction."
At that, Red grinned devilishly. "Oh, yeah? Well, what about that time you got lost in the woods and I had to find you as the wolf? From what I saw you couldn't tell true north from your own ass!"
Regina glowered when Henry burst out laughing. "I told you never to mention that again! And watch your language. She's sorry, Henry."
"Yes, Henry, I'm sorry." Red wasn't sorry and Regina knew that judging by the cutting glare she received. Unashamed, Red shrugged, causing Regina to sigh.
"It's cool," was Henry's response, unaffected by what he'd heard but still grinning. "I heard much, much worse while I was with the lost boys."
At Regina's scandalized expression, Red nudged her shoulder into her lover's and laughed right along with the boy she had come to love as her own. After that, she snuggled into Regina's side and while still exchanging good-natured quips and playful insults with her family along the way, Red let herself be escorted back to where Regina had parked her Mercedes before the trip to Neverland. By the time they got home, Red was so happy that she permitted Regina to put her to bed without argument, though she was only willing to acquiesce so far as to take a short nap. Later that night, however, she was more than happy to fall asleep in Regina's arms with the comfort of her lover's hand resting protectively over where their child was growing. For the first time in seven months, she slept like a baby.
With Regina and Henry back home, it did not take long for routine to settle back in. And so, two very short months later and after five hours of excruciatingly painful and shockingly messy labor, Clementine was born. She was perfect in every way, with ten fingers and toes, shocking blue eyes, a head full of brown hair, and a very well-developed set of lungs. Regina had cried, Red had cried, and then they cried together as they cuddled up on the cramped hospital bed to hold their perfect little bundle of joy while Henry sat at the bedside with his baby sister's tiny fingers in his outstretched hand.
Little did they know that big trouble comes in small packages. Still, Red wouldn't trade her daughter for anything in the world.
"Careful," Snow laughed at Red's previous comment when she'd referred to her daughter as an imp. "Don't let her mother hear you call her that."
Red blew out a loud breath, making a raspberry-like noise of fearful agreement with her lips. "Isn't that the truth. Speaking of, I wonder if he'll make an appearance with Belle. Did you see him?"
"I did," Snow nodded.
Red winced. "And? Did Regina see him? What did she say?"
Shrugging, Snow walked over from the doorway and after kicking her heels off bunched the hem of her dress up in her hands so that she could very carefully sit beside Red. Pushing Red's hair to the side, she leaned in to fasten the ametite necklace around her neck.
"She seemed fine," Snow answered as she worked. "They spoke to one another and I didn't detect any tension. To be honest, I don't think anything could ruin today for Regina. She's walking on cloud nine right now." Once the necklace was in place, Snow rearranged Red's hair and sat back with a smile.
Red couldn't help the dreamy look of hopeful happiness that passed her face at Snow's description of Regina's mood. "Yeah?"
"Why wouldn't she be?" Snow asked, smiling widely. "She's about to get married to the best, most beautiful, and perfect woman in the world." In an aside voice, she added, though it was only half-serious, "aside from my daughter, of course."
"Of course," Red laughed, blushing as she smoothed her hands over the pendant hanging above her heart. It was warm to the touch. "But thank you, even though you're clearly biased on both accounts."
Turning just slightly enough that she could grasp Red's hands, Snow gave them an affectionate squeeze, her smile never diminishing. "I mean it, Red. I've seen many beautiful brides in my day but none were as radiant as you are. You're shining like the sun."
It was hard for Red not to preen at that, though she was sure her beaming smile revealed plenty of how she felt under such high praise. "I'm glad to hear you say that. I've been waiting for this day so long. To be honest, I wasn't really sure it would ever come."
At that, Snow reached out to rub her thumb feather-light along Red's cheek. "Oh, sweetie," she cooed, "it was always going to happen. Regina just needed time to work through her...bad experiences in the past."
The last words were spoken by Snow with great sorrow and Red knew why. Snow's father. When Red considered that whole tragic affair, it hurt her to realize that Snow's opinion of her father had been irreparably tarnished by the truth. Yet while she hated that Snow had to go through that pain, it was a healthy one, one she needed to experience if she were ever going to understand why Regina had made the choices she did, why she had become the Evil Queen.
For most of her life, Snow had been idolizing a man who perpetrated an unspeakable violation on Regina, however kind he attempted to be in doing so. It took many years of subtle nudging, but when Red finally wore Regina down enough that she'd confessed her experiences to Snow, many tears were shed by all.
Initially, Snow had stubbornly rejected any insinuation that her father had done something wrong. Leopold, she'd argued, had not forced Regina into the marriage and more than that, he was not a bad man, which Red hadn't doubted for the most part. But what Snow was forgetting and Red had to explain to her distraught friend, was that however magnanimous Leopold seemed to his daughter and those he cared for, he was first and foremost a king, and in the Enchanted Forest kings took what they wanted. It was just the way things were. It didn't matter that Regina's personal hell had been wrapped up in silken cloth and crowned with gold and jewels, it was still abuse, still torment.
Having explained that, Snow finally accepted the truth and broke down into Red's arms. It was a heartrending experience, Red knew, to have lofty dreams or pristine perceptions of a parent shatter around ones feet. She'd lived it with her own mother, but those difficult lessons had helped her to guide Snow through her ordeal. All things considered, Snow was coping well now, having found a way to a preserve the good memories of her father while at the same time acknowledging to Regina how wrong what she had been through was, and that at least in part, her vengeance had been justified. That concession marked the beginning of a bridge being built between the two former mortal enemies with which they began to reconstruct their fragile relationship.
Red was glad of it. She needed them both in her life, and while she needed the sisterhood she felt with Snow, it paled in comparison to her need for Regina's love. Thankfully, since the two had somewhat reconciled, there was no need for Red to choose, which was a burden off her shoulders she had carried around for way too long.
"I know," Red replied to Snow after thinking things through, "it just felt like she might never get there. She told me once several years ago that she was open to the idea at a later date, but she seemed so spooked by the concept of marriage I just wrote it off as something that probably wouldn't happen. I was okay with it as long as I could be with her, and I still am, it's just..." Trailing off, Red looked away, feeling a bit guilty for wanting something so badly that she knew might be hurting Regina, despite appearances.
"It's just now that it's here, you feel like if it didn't happen, you would have missed out on something incredible," Snow supplied correctly. "Red. Red," she called, and when Red did not respond, Snow forcibly but gently guided Red's chin back around with her index finger. "Listen to me, okay? It's not wrong to feel that way." Red bit her lip furtively. "It's not! I've talked to Regina about this at length, and I promise you that she understands."
Tilting her head, Snow trailed a finger down one of the thick braids that were woven into the hair on the crown of Red's head, courtesy of Granny. "You're a hopeless romantic, honey, and always have been," she continued while gazing at Red through tender eyes. "When you look at marriage you see a miracle, something precious that's worth experiencing because it means you've found someone to share your whole life with: your heart, your soul, your body, your mind, and your hopes and dreams. Regina loves that about you because believe it or not, she used to be that way, too. And while she may have misgivings, they aren't about you. That's why she's doing this."
"But I don't want her to do this because of me," Red countered, fighting off tears once more. "I want her to do this because she loves me and she loves us and she wants this as much as I do."
"Sweetie, she does," Snow soothed. Red recognized her friend was trying to keep her calm, so she remained skeptical yet she also hated herself for having even a tiny shred of doubt. "She does!" Snow insisted, having caught Red's look. "I wouldn't lie to you, Red, not about this, and neither would Regina. Let me ask you something, did she or did she not propose to you?"
Nodding meekly, Red sucked her bottom lip between her teeth.
"So, you see, you didn't even have to ask her. She wants this! Just trust in that, okay? Trust in what you have together. It's got you this far and it'll take you the rest of the way."
Inhaling deeply, Red closed her eyes and let all of her worries and frivolous doubts flow out of her body along with her exhale. "Okay," she breathed, looking back at Snow, "okay, you're right. I'm being silly. I'm just nervous. God, Snow, I'm getting married today." With a look at Snow of hopeful amazement, Red allowed herself to smile again.
"You really are!" Snow agreed, grinning from ear to ear. "So, now that your worries are eased and your beloved necklace has been located, shall I call the girls up? They're waiting downstairs with your dress."
Steeling herself, Red straightened her spine and clapped her hands down on her thighs before standing. "Let's do this."
And then it began. The first to arrive through the door was a radiantly grinning Emma in her maroon bridesmaid dress, her blonde hair piled up into a neat bun atop her head. Red's dress was draped over her arm in its gown bag, ready to be put on.
"So...you ready for the old ball and chain?" Emma joked, her eyes crinkling with merriment.
"I've been ready, but doesn't this mean you're next?" Red replied, winking playfully. "After all, you'll be the last of us that is technically single." Which was true. Emma and Killian had lived together for a few years, but seemed to be in no rush to make it permanent, which Red completely understood having lived with Regina for over five years before taking the next step. Emma was just too easy to tease about it, so since Regina proposed Red could never resist pointing out that Emma was fixing to be the sole member of the group without a ring on her finger.
Though she knew the suggestion to be a jest, Emma's eyes widened as if in frantic denial. "God, no! Shut your trap, Rubes, don't even joke about the 'm' word. Jesus." Emma shuddered for show as both Red and Snow rolled their eyes. Emma had changed a great deal over the years, but there were some things that remained from her days outside Storybrooke, such as her irrational gamophobia. "That's the one good thing about being with a pirate. He doesn't wanna get married any more than I do."
"Bah," Red retorted, smoothing a hand down her slip. "You guys are as good as married already."
"Very true," piped up Snow from behind Red's shoulder, earning a glare from her daughter just as Belle came around the corner, looking beautiful as always.
Fixing on Belle with a near desperate look, Emma cried, "Save me, Belle! These vultures want to marry me off!"
"God forbid!" Belle gasped, holding a mocking hand to her chest. "Haven't you all learned by now that while swans mate for life...they don't marry." With her hips cocked out to one side and her hands on her hips, Belle's flippant expression had Red waiting to hear the rimshot at the end of the quip. The woman had been around Rumplestiltskin for far, far too long.
Grasping onto Belle's humorous rejoinder, Emma pointed at her with an empathic nod, clearly pleased that at least someone was taking her part, however tongue-in-cheek. "Listen to this woman. She is a wise one."
"Debatable," Red countered, raising her eyebrows suggestively at Belle.
Belle's blue eyes narrowed. "Don't even start with that nonsense about Rumple," she said in a mostly lighthearted tone, though there was still a bit of an edge there that Red had been all too aware she would awaken with such an implication. One of the things she loved teasing Belle about was her choice of a husband, if only because it was one of few topics that riled Belle up enough that she would get smart with her retorts. After years of living with Regina, Red had grown a little too fond of verbal sparring. Raising an eyebrow, Belle then gestured with her hand from Red's feet to her head and drawled, "I mean, hellooooo, Mrs. Evil Queen."
As her friends laughed, Red preened shamelessly, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin as though the proudest woman on earth – which she was – after which she dipped into a dramatic curtsey. The move was particularly aimed it at Belle, who giggled openly at Red's silliness. "Why, thank you, Mrs. Gold, for that lovely compliment. However, I am not yet Mrs. Evil Queen."
"Well, then," Belle replied around a wide smile, "let's rectify that, shall we?" She then waved Emma over as she approached Red. "Let's get our girl into her dress and then out there to her Queen."
Red was unable to help the eager grin that formed on her face as she gazed at her newest friend among the group. Belle's arrival to town had been the balm no one knew Storybrooke needed, quieting the beast that was Rumplestiltskin at least enough that he became tolerable to the general public. It hadn't taken Red long to develop an affinity for the witty, astute, yet remarkably kind and compassionate young woman, and as time passed, their friendship grew easily and naturally, like a dandelion in spring.
After giving a whimsical salute, Emma complied, and soon a flurry of activity ensured that made the next half hour pass by as if mere minutes. Getting into her dress proved to be the least bothersome part of the preparations. She'd chosen a simple a-line dress with a v-cut in the back, adorned at the top with a sheer pattern of floral design; it was much in line with who Red was as person. While Ruby bad been flashy and provocative, Red was a conservative girl, and although she'd happily adopted some of Ruby's more liberal dress code in every day life, for her wedding she had reverted to form. At heart, she was traditional, perhaps due to how untraditional her life had been to date, and because of that she was clinging to the values ingrained from her childhood for such an important event. Whatever the case, the dress was beautiful and if even if no one else agreed, Red loved it.
While getting the dress on was a relative breeze, the hardest part of those final minutes before the ceremony was listening to her friends take turns telling her how much she meant to them and how happy they were for her. As a girl, she had been somewhat of a loner, which only got worse as she grew older. After her 13th birthday, Granny had starting preaching the values of isolation along with thrusting the ever-present responsibility of a red cloak upon her, none of which encouraged Red to seek out social fulfillment. Peter was the only person who tried to be friends with her after she withdrew into herself, so she didn't really know what it was like to have a group of friends (female friends in particular) with which to share such a momentous event, making the experience a little overwhelming.
Of course, while true that all of the girls were there when Clementine was born, that was a different occasion. Red had known that Snow, Emma, and Belle were right outside the room, but in that moment she hadn't really cared about anything or anyone else aside from Regina, Henry, Granny, and Clementine, the tiny little squealing bundle of pink skin and blue eyes that they brought into the world together. But the wedding, Red realized, was not just for her immediate family. Rather, it was for everyone they loved, their family and friends and acquaintances. Even more, it was a chance for the town to bond over the celebration of a love between two people who had sacrificed so much to save and protect it, one of which had created it. This was proven by the unrehearsed speeches her bridesmaids gave, each taking a few minutes in turn to speak their hearts.
The first was Emma, and it was very difficult for Red to restrain her tears through the funny anecdotes and heartfelt words of gratitude she spoke. Though typically spartan with her emotions, Emma hadn't held back, going so far as to thank Red for being one of the reasons she'd chosen to stay in Storybrooke after Henry quite unwillingly roped her into returning him home. She had then expressed her thanks that Red had remained her friend even when she was at odds with Regina, which tended to be quite often seeing as Emma was Sheriff and Regina was mayor and they were both strong, stubborn, set in their ways alpha females. But to Red, it was obvious how much it meant to Emma that beyond her family she had someone she could count on and it honored Red to be considered that person.
Next came Belle, who had surprised Red with her declaration that she'd always suspected Regina had someone in her life to dull those razor sharp Evil Queen edges so long ago. She'd been convinced of it by the way the unfailingly wrathful woman had chosen to protect her rather than wield her as a weapon against the man she loved. The speech ended with Belle declaring that other than her love for Rumple, the best thing to come from all that had happened to her was gaining Red as a friend.
After two such heartfelt speeches, everyone in the room was choked up, straining to keep from crying openly to spare their makeup from being ruined. And then Snow delivered the coup de grâce.
Starting off speaking about how she and Red had met in Granny's chicken coop and of their many adventures together, she then launched into a colorful retelling of that last day before the Curse when she'd caught Red searching for the necklace she was currently wearing and had called her out over the affair that she'd been carrying on with the very woman who had been terrorizing Snow for years. In retelling that particular tale, Snow mentioned some of the words they'd spoken and how that confrontation convinced her that their bond of friendship was too strong to break even under so grave an obstacle.
"I knew then," she finished to an audience of misty eyes, "that no matter what happened, I would always love you. It wasn't the Dark Curse or what came after it was broken that convinced me, it was that very moment I discovered you were sleeping with my mortal enemy and that to my immense shock, it didn't really bother me at all. That was the great test of our friendship, Red, and we made it through without losing each other."
Taking Red's hands, her expression had shifted into something indiscernible, almost like an enlightened look of determination that made Red shiver against her desire to cry at her friend's heartfelt words.
"I never told you this," Snow then continued, "but I knew that day as you crossed the bridge and looked back at us that you were leaving for good. Whether the Curse worked or not, you had chosen with your heart to stand by Regina, and I was okay with that, because sisters don't say goodbye. We don't say goodbye, Red. You are my sister in every way that matters, and this is not a goodbye, but a brand new hello, the dawning of a new day under which a new friendship will flourish and a new bond of sisterhood will grow. Embrace your happiness, Red, live free and love with all of your heart, because I'll always be here for you. So go out and claim your destiny. She's out there waiting for you...has been her whole life, I think, just like you've been waiting for her."
Having kept it together for the first part, Snow's last words broke the dam holding back Red's tears. Weeping openly, she was sure she had smeared her makeup all over the place, but thanks to Emma's quick thinking and magic, things were sorted in short order, and soon enough eyes were dried and makeup was perfectly reapplied. After a long group hug, the group finally departed the bedroom and made their way outside to where the wedding would be held underneath the apple tree Red had planted with Regina in their backyard to mark the first anniversary of her near death.
"It's a memorial, cariño," Regina had said in explanation of her decision to plant the tree. "With this tree, we will commemorate a profound truth that life can spring up even from death, because there's something I haven't told you. Technically speaking, you died that day, but you came back, and out of that rebirth wounds that would have otherwise remained festering at last began to heal, not only in me but in others. More than anything else, I believe your act of selfless devotion is what saved this town."
After that heartfelt speech, Red couldn't muster up even a weak argument. And so, wielding her magic to enchant the tree to grow quickly, Regina tapped into the ancient power that drove Red's transformations so that both of their essences would be ingrained into the sapling that would soon sprout and grow into a fruit-bearing tree within two years time. Not only was the tree a memorial in the way Regina had intended, but it also became a symbol of their interwoven lives, that out of two very different, very wounded and scarred women, something beautiful and whole had emerged. The True Love and partnership they shared had proven strong enough to withstand any test thrown at it, even the greatest of them all: death.
Not long after Snow's speech, Red stood next to Granny looking down the aisle towards Regina who was resplendent in an exquisitely tailored tuxedo, her face unguarded, free of any masks, and beaming with such love and joy that Red felt as if she could take up wings to fly into the heavens. There in the background, she spotted their tree and remembered. She remembered the feeling of the soil beneath her finger tips, the smell of the air sweet with hope, and the heady taste of Regina's lips after they'd covered up the seed together. That feeling of completeness, of knowing she was where she was supposed to be, was what she felt the moment she caught Regina's eyes only magnified by a thousand.
And as the wedding march began, she realized that destiny was not a feeling or an experience or a road map laid out for her life, but a person named Regina Mills.
"Well, girl, here we are," Granny then said, a wistful expression on her face. Cutting her eyes up to Red, she quirked a crooked smile. "It's not too late to turn back, you know."
"Oh, Granny," Red replied, gazing affectionately at the woman who had sacrificed so much to raise her. There was a part of Red that belonged to Granny that no one could ever touch, not even Regina. It was the part of her that belonged to a girl who was abandoned by her mother but never missed that bond because she'd had Granny to fill it. There were not enough words in the dictionary to adequately describe how grateful she was for Granny or for how much she loved the cantankerous old woman who made her young life so interesting. Gazing at Granny lovingly, Red took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. "It is far too late for me," she then said, "but don't be afraid. This changes nothing for us. You're still my Granny. I would not be here today were it not for you."
Taking Granny's hand, Red lifted them up to her lips and kissed them reverently one at a time, then said the words she should have long ago. "For everything you've done for me, for raising me, for loving me, for putting up with all of my crap over the years: thank you. Thank you, Granny. I love you so, so much. To the moon and back."
Sniffling against her emotions, a solitary tear leaked down Granny's cheek like a diamond finally escaping its prison of coal. "You're welcome, my girl," she said, reaching up to pat Red's cheek. "I love you, too, and I wish you every happiness this world has to offer. In my opinion, no one is more deserving than you..." Clearing her throat, Granny smirked. "And Regina, too."
Grinning, Red let out delighted laugh, what remained of her pre-wedding jitters suddenly dispelled. Having received Granny's wholehearted blessing, Red looked out over the crowd, spotting Clementine clapping excitedly at her from where she half-stood in her older brother's lap next to her uncle David and uncle Killian. Lifting a hand to her lips, Ruby blew her daughter a kiss, which Clementine pretended to catch and then rub in to her cheek. Laughing joyfully, Red returned her eyes to her soon-to-be wife, catching Regina staring at her as if she were the sun itself. A warm ball of anticipation formed in her stomach. All was right with the world. If this is what a happy ending feels like, she thought, I never want it to end.
Soon thereafter, Granny was placing her hand in Regina's and proudly announcing to the town that she was the one giving her beloved granddaughter away, and after that, vows were exchanged along with many, many kisses. A plethora of photos later, there was laughter and singing and dancing and celebrating, which turned into a long, languid night full of burning passion that day-by-day bloomed into something wondrously indescribable for Red, a life so full of love and happiness that even her worst days could not dampen.
With her wife and children providing her with such overwhelming joy, Red constantly found herself awestruck. Never had she imagined she could be so blessed. And as only the sweetest of storybooks and fairy tales end:
They lived happily ever after.
The End.