Once Upon A Time Lady (OUAT x DW)

Red-Handed [3]

~Storybrooke ~

Mary Margaret and Kayla exited Mary Margaret's car at the Storybrooke town line and headed out into the woods.

Kayla stopped Mary Margaret as she heard twigs snapping and leaves rustling as something headed towards them.

Both women released a sigh of relief when they saw it was only David.

"It's you." Mary Margaret breathed.

Kayla watched David as he seemed in a daze "You ok?"

"You're looking for Kathryn, too?"

"I'm looking," David replied.

"She knows you didn't do anything. Emma, I mean," Mary Margaret claimed. "She can tell when people are lying. So she knows. And I'll stand with you. I'll tell everyone this isn't possible. And she's going to turn up somewhere. That's why we're out here, right?"

"I'm looking,"

"David?" Kayla asked concerned, but the man merely backed away from the duo "David! David!"

~ Magic Kingdom ~

Snow White and Red trudged through the snow.

Snow pointed to a set of tracks "What about that?"

"That's a dog. See how small that is?" Red explained. "Don't look where the snow's drifted, it covers tracks,"

"Hey. Over here,"

"That is a rabbit. What we're looking for will be huge. Like a dog print, but big, like eight-inches across, with big long claws,"

Snow stopped as she noticed what Red had just described "Like these?"

"Yes." Red looked past Snow "And those. Oh, my gods. How big is this thing?"

Snow looked at the ground "This was one stride? From here to there?"

"Come on." Red began to follow the trail "Over there, through the brush and off towards the hill,"

"You're good at this,"

"When there's something I want, I'm good at tracking it down,"

~ Storybrooke ~

Ruby sat across from Henry as he checked online for job openings for her.

"Do you wanna be bike messenger?" Henry suggesting, cluing in on her identity as Red Riding Hood.

"Bike messenger?" Ruby questioned.

"That's about taking things to people in a little basket,"

"No. Yeah, see, I'm not so great at bike-riding,"

"How about taking things on foot to people in a little basket?"

"I'm not so sure that's a real job," Ruby glanced over as the phone at the station continued to ring "Why do the phones keep doing that?"

"Oh, the non-emergency calls go to a machine when Emma and Jack are busy,"

Ruby picked up the phone when it rang again. "Sheriff's station. How can I help you? Mmm-hmm. I'll get her to return. Thank you, too."

The phone rang again and Ruby answered.

"Sheriff's station. Hey, Ms. Ginger,"

Emma and Jack walked in as Ruby answered the phone.

"No, that's not a prowler. That's Archie's dog, Pongo." Ruby explained over the phone. Throw him a vanilla wafer. He'll quiet down. Did you still want to talk to Emma? Great. Glad I could help." she chuckled.

"How's it going, you two?" Emma called out once Ruby hung up.

"Great. Except I can't do anything,"

"I'm sure that's not true,"

"We just saw you on the phone." Jack pointed out "That was good,"

"That? That's nothing," Ruby waved off.

"No. No, it isn't," Emma argued. She looked over towards Jack who nodded towards the girl "I actually have some money in the budget if you want to help out around here,"

Ruby jumped at the job "Yes! Thank you! Yes. Um, I could answer phones and help out. Is there anything else that you need done? Organize files, cleaning up? Please, I want to be useful,"

"We're swamped with the Kathryn Nolan thing." Jack noted "If you maybe want to grab us lunch, Emma would never say no to a grilled cheese and I'm always down for a cup of coffee,"

"Done." Ruby smiled as she looked down at Henry "You want anything?"

"Two chocolate chip cookies, a half a pie, and a hot dog," Henry replied.

"He ate at school," Emma argued.

"Actually that doesn't sound bad, I'll have that instead," Jack claimed, discreetly high-fiving Henry once Emma's back was turned.

Mary Margaret and Kayla hurried into the station.

"Hey!" Ruby greeted "Lunch, Kayla, Mary Margaret? I'm getting for everyone,"

"No, I'm not hungry," Mary Margaret said.

"Sugar cookie and Ham and Cheese Toastie," Jack interrupted before Kayla could negate.

Ruby nodded and headed off.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked Kayla.

"David's in the woods," Mary Margaret told Emma.

"So, he's looking for Kathryn," Emma shrugged.

Kayla shook her head "There's something wrong with him. He looked right through us. It's like...It's like he was a different person,"