Disclaimer: see chapter 1

A/N: It's been almost three years since I posted the first part of this fic, and since it's red queen angst day over on tumblr, I figured I'd update this as so many people requested. This is set in an alternate universe where Regina follows through on her initial intention to expose Cora instead of coming around to her side.

I had a little bit of trouble re-finding everyone's season 2 voices after so long, so I hope this is okay.

"Regina," Mary Margaret said with surprise.

Through the open apartment door, Regina could see not only David and Emma but Leroy and Ruby as well.

"Well, isn't this a party," she quipped before her expression sobered. She had intended for her mother to be here, to provide proof that Regina hadn't been involved in Archie's death. Her absence was going to make things more difficult. "Listen, I didn't kill Archie. I know what you're thinking, but my mother is in town, and -"

"We know," Mary Margaret gently cut off her rambling. She invited Regina in and carried on sympathetically, "He was kidnapped by Cora. Regina, I'm sorry. We tried to find you when we found out, but we couldn't find you."

Ever the skeptic, Leroy eyed her suspiciously. "How do we know you're not working with her?"

A wariness crept into the expressions of the apartment's occupants. Even Mary Margaret - who wanted to believe Regina had changed more than anybody, who had been waiting so long for this - couldn't let go of all her doubt.

Regina opened her mouth to defend herself. Emma too seemed ready to jump to her defense, but someone else beat them to the punch.

"She isn't," Ruby stated forcefully, startling everyone. Her enhanced senses had picked up on changes in Regina's breathing pattern and heart rate, amongst other things, as she talked about her mother. They left Ruby with little doubt of Regina's innocence.

Regina exhaled with relief. "All this time, and I finally have you on my side."

Ruby fidgeted, and Mary Margaret's brow furrowed. "What?"

Regina's lips curled up into a triumphant smile. "You haven't told her."

"Told me what?" Mary Margaret asked as Ruby simultaneously rebuked, "Regina."

Mary Margaret looked expectantly back and forth between Regina and Ruby for an explanation, but Regina seemed content to smirk silently, and Ruby was fastidiously avoiding her gaze.

Regina decided it was time to go before they could start doubting her innocence again. Her job here was done. "You know where to find me," she directed at Ruby as she left the apartment.

"What was she talking about?" Mary Margaret asked. Sensing that this wasn't a conversation for them to get involved in, David led Emma and Leroy away to give them privacy.

"It's nothing," Ruby said quickly. Too quickly.

"It doesn't sound like nothing." It didn't look like nothing either. Ruby was still avoiding her gaze. "What did she mean she finally has you on her side? Did she ask you in our land or here?"

Ruby sighed before answering, "Our land. She liked the idea of having the wolf on her side."

"Why wouldn't you tell me?"

The hurt in Mary Margaret's voice made Ruby squirm. "There was a lot going on," she hedged.

"Red." Mary Margaret stepped closer. "What are you not telling me?"

Ruby stepped back but steeled herself. Mary Margaret deserved to know. Keeping secrets never helped anyone. Ruby's eyes met Mary Margaret's guiltily. "She thought I was unhappy with you. She thought it meant I'd be more willing to go to her side."

Understanding dawned on Mary Margaret's face, the hurt in her voice magnifying ten-fold. "You didn't tell me because it was true." She took a moment to absorb the bombshell, tried to think about what she'd done to make Red so unhappy. She couldn't quite grasp it. "You weren't… Is that how you feel now? Is that why you're taking her side?"

"No!" Ruby responded, once again too quickly. "Not really… I mean, I'm not taking sides." How she felt wasn't the point. The point was that Regina was trying to change, and she deserved a chance. "You weren't here. You didn't see how much she's been trying to change. I thought you of all people would appreciate that."

Everything Ruby said about Regina seemed to go in one ear and out the other. Mary Margaret couldn't focus on anything but the way Ruby had all but affirmed her unhappiness with their friendship. "What did I… Did I do something?"

"You found a family, a different one." Ruby gazed at the space that used to hold David and Emma. "It's okay," she said, but she was sure her words held little actual reassurance. "You deserve your happy ending. What's the saying in this world? It's not you. It's me."

Ruby smiled sadly and left Mary Margaret staring after her as she left.

"You didn't have to tell them," Ruby said as she entered the vault.

Regina didn't need enhanced senses to tell that Ruby was still shaking from the conversation in the Charmings' apartment. She put down the spellbook that she had been perusing. "I didn't," she said. It was technically true.

Ruby groaned at her pedanticism. "Okay, you didn't have to mention it then."

"Oops," Regina responded flippantly.

"Damn it, Regina!" Ruby muttered, exuding quiet exasperation with every word. "I am trying to help you. Can't you just restrain yourself once? For me?"

"I'm sorry. It's -"

"Instinct. I know," Ruby finished for her. She was messing everything up. She had just made Mary Margaret feel guilty, and now she was doing it to Regina too.

They both had their coping mechanisms, smokescreens they weaved around themselves so no one could see how much they were hurting. Ruby focused on other people's problems. Regina deflected with biting sarcasm.

"Look." Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose. She needed Regina to understand. "Snow is important to me. I could never have turned against her in our land, and I'm not doing it now either. I'm helping you now because you're trying to change. You deserve to have someone on your side. Everyone does."

"Would it have been so bad?" Regina asked. She was trying to change - trying being the operative word - but a bit of the Evil Queen lingered. The idea of the wolf by her side, tearing apart their enemies with claws and teeth, the sheer power. It was intoxicating. "I wouldn't have had you do anything they didn't."

Ruby shook her head. It wasn't her actions in warfare that mattered. "Snow is family. I couldn't -"

Regina held up a hand. "Before you continue, I'd like to point out that you killed your mother and I killed my father. I would say family makes for a rather weak argument."

Ruby recoiled but shot back, "Can you say you don't regret it? Because I can't."

Regina's sarcasm smokescreen instinctively rushed to the foreground. "But you saved your precious Snow White."

Even as the words left her mouth, she recognized that Ruby was right. She had gotten Henry from the Curse, but that didn't mitigate the guilt she felt. It just made it bearable. If she had the chance to have her father back, to have her father and Henry both, she would take it like a shot.

"I don't regret saving Snow," Ruby said, putting Regina's thoughts into words a different way. "I just... I wish it could've happened differently. I could've pushed my mother in another direction. I could've gotten in between her and Snow. I could've done so many other things." Ruby shook her head, trying to ward away the possibilities that could never happen. They weren't helpful. "It may not feel like it now, but you're Snow's family. Maybe even more than I am. You know she's always wanted you back. And even if you don't feel it, you still have Henry. He's why you're doing this, right?"

"I'm trying. I am."

"I know."

"Thank you," Regina said sincerely.

Snow wanted to be a family again. Emma seemed to believe in her. If she tried hard enough, Regina figured Henry would come back around. It would be difficult with her mother lurking behind every corner and Mr. Gold's tendency to push her buttons whenever possible. Still, she had Ruby's belief in the here and now, the one tangible support that seemed to make all the rest possible.

fin

Thanks for reading!