Chapter One: The Ill-Fated Night

Snow White remembered the night all too well. She remembered running from her palace, her home. Away from Regina, her stepmother. Away from the memories of both of her unfortunately deceased parents. She remembered the sandy-haired man she ran into, the one with eyes as blue as the ocean. A man that she—in her delirium—gave herself to beneath the moonless sky. Now, with Regina's huntsman after her, she had a reminder of that one night.

She was pregnant.

Although Snow had tried to deny it for the first few weeks she wandered from village to village, now she couldn't pretend it was in her head. Everything had consequences, she knew that, and now she knew her world was changing.

He was an engaged man! Engaged to Midas' little hag of a daughter, but nonetheless the father of her unborn child belonged to someone else. It was her fate, Snow figured, to love something that she was never supposed to know.

She found out not long after she first caught eye of Regina heading to the summer palace in July. Now it was November and the woman was going back to her usual home, and Snow was still in hiding. Gods, what would Regina do if she found out about her child? She didn't even want to imagine what that wretched woman would do to a baby...

Night was falling as she approaches a new town. It was sleepy, the perfect place for the white-cloaked girl to disappear into an abandoned building while the snow fell. There was an old barn where she heard chickens cooing, certainly a place where she could find something light to eat, something that no one would miss. Snow then heard the howling in the distance and tucked herself away in the little barn quickly. She curled up in the hay and questioned her fate.

What kind of life could she give this child? She was a disgraced princess running away in order to save herself from a woman she betrayed. Snow she never thought that she would be on the run from her castle, her face on a wanted poster, stealing away into empty homes in the night.

The howling she heard was suddenly so quiet compared to the screaming. There were people out there, people in trouble! Snow couldn't just let them die if she could've stopped them! She got out of the barn and just peered out the door, seeing the large black wolf charging toward the man with the spear. She stepped out further to step between the man and the beast. The wolf snarled and scratched her with his front paw, locking eyes with a frightened Snow. Gold met green. As if feeling sorry for its actions, the wolf jumped over a doubled-over Snow clutching her leg in pain. Snow stumbled back inside the barn, and prayed the creature she saw was only from one of her nightmares.

...the next morning...

Red obediently went into the barn to gather eggs from the chickens for Granny. Although Red didn't agree with her grandmother one hundred percent of the time, she knew what the wolf did to animals and what it could do to a few helpless chickens.

She heard a stirring behind the chicken coop and watched as a dark-haired woman rose. The woman looked vaguely familiar, but she didn't really recognize her. In each of the woman's hands was an egg, an egg that she took from their chickens. "Are you stealing our eggs?" Red asked, trying not to sound as harsh as her Granny would've. Granny would've ripped the poor woman from limb to limb!

"No..." The woman sighed, sounding both guilty and in pain. What happened? Why was this lady in her barn? "Well, not really." She thrust the eggs forward at Red. "Here"

Red smiled and handed them back to the brunette. "No, it's okay."

"I just heard this howling... and saw this... animal out there..." The young woman was still shaken. She limped out from behind the chicken coop and Red saw the stains on the front of the woman's dress. Oh god, she thought, the poor girl! She continued to eye the woman, shocked she wasn't a bloody corpse! Snow put the eggs into Red's basket and placed her hands on her slightly rounded stomach.

"It's wolf season, too dangerous to be outside at night." Red gestured for Snow to sit back in the straw. She did so quickly. Red just looked at the gash down the side of the frightened woman's right leg. "Gosh, this is an awful cut. I'll take you inside and we-Granny and I- can dress that wound. Then I can take you home... we have horses..."

Snow shook her head. "I don't have anyone or anything to go back to."

"A husband?"

Snow sadly looked down at her stomach. "It's just me." She felt little feet fluttering inside her, a sign of her lie. "Well I shouldn't be troubling you anyways. I'm sure you're busy."

"Not at all. Besides, Granny would hate it if we threw a woman out on the street when she clearly needed help." Red helped the woman up and smiled. It had been so long since Snow saw a friendly face... "What's your name?"

"I'm Sn... Frosty." Snow corrected herself, trying to keep her identity secret. What would happen if this girl weren't someone to trust?

"Frosty? Really?" Red had never met a Frosty before! The woman who called herself Frosty shook her head. "Well I just need something to call you."

She hesitated, thinking up the perfect name. "Mary. No... Margaret." At last Snow's mind settled on a name. "Mary."

"Well, Mary, we haven't sat down to breakfast yet." Red took her arm and helped her out of the barn. Snow hadn't met someone so willing to help her since her mother passed. Maybe this was a turning point in her story.
...after breakfast...

Granny eyed this 'Mary' person. She didn't buy a bit that Mary was her name. She spaced out and barely noticed when she was called. 'Mary' just sat there and rubbed her tiny baby bump, clearly showing from under her worn-out white gown. There were so many stains and rips and tears in the seams that this 'Mary' had clearly worn the dress a long time. Red took pity on her- then again, Red took pity on anyone coming with a sob story. Red wanted to be as charitable as she could in order to make up for her stone-cold Granny.

"It's a bad cut, Mary." Granny told her, snapping to get her attention. "What were you doing out there? Could've gotten yourself killed..."

This 'Mary' looked down and refused to look at Granny. "I was- I was-"

"She doesn't have anywhere to go." Red finished for Snow. Snow smiled back at the red-cloaked lady dishing up more eggs and some more bread. "Granny, can she stay here? Please? Just until wolf's time's over..."

Granny raised a hand to silence her granddaughter. "I won't turn a woman out in the snow. It's getting cold out there and it's still going to be a while before her leg heals." She stood from the table and patted 'Mary' on the arm. She then pulled her granddaughter into the small bedroom behind them. "Get Doc over here to check on her. Did she give an actual name? It's not 'Mary', I can tell."

Red shrugged. "Not a real one. But I recognize her. She's on one of the Queen's wanted posters..."

"A criminal!" Granny whispered, still fussing at the naive woman. Her glare was so intense it cut her like daggers. "We're housing criminals now, are we? Might as well make this cottage an inn..."

Red attempted to hush Granny before 'Mary' heard them. "No no, nothing like that." Red whispered into Granny's ear, telling the biggest secret she ever had. "I think she's Snow White."

Granny didn't know which one was more daunting: housing a fugitive or the princess herself.