Daughter of the Moon

Chapter 9

Three weeks after the birth, Ruby and Graham were finally able to take their bundle of joy home. Even though Ruby and Graham were informed that there was a good chance of their daughter being born premature, they did not think to purchase any preemie sized clothing, so they just went with a red newborn sized onesie that had BEST GIFT EVER written on it, even though it was practically swimming on her. The new little family was discharged from the hospital at approximately 10:45 that morning and they could not wait to head home and start a life as a family complete unit.

They were about to head to their apartment right away when Ruby received text messages from Belle and Mary Margaret, asking how she and Graham were doing and when they planned to reveal the name of their daughter. Ruby looked at Graham with a suggestive look and Graham responded by saying "sure, if you're up for it". Judging by the way Ruby's eyes lit up with excitement in the back seat through the rear view mirror of the police cruiser, Graham already knew the answer.

Everyone met up at Granny's at approximately 11:15AM, all anticipating the name of the Humbert family's daughter. The only one outside of Ruby and Graham that knew the name was Dr. Whale and he was absent for the gathering due to an early morning of rounds. The new parents briefly exchanged challenging glances in deciding who should reveal the baby's name. But eventually they decided that Ruby should do it since she was the one that came up with it. Ruby nodded her head in agreement before announcing it.

"As you all know these have not been the easiest eight months for Graham or myself. But as you can see, it was all worth it in the end. It is our greatest pleasure to finally introduce you to our daughter, Rowan Belle Humbert" Ruby revealed. She had never said it out loud in front of anyone except herself in the mirror. But in the diner among her friends, she knew that it was truly meant to be.

Everyone was in awe of the name, especially Belle; who started to tear up due to a feeling of great honor in knowing that Ruby wanted to name her daughter after her in some way. Congratulations went all around the room; except from Zelena, who sat in the back booth with Oliver and looked disgustedly at everyone who reveled in the Humbert family's joy; clearly jealous that she was no longer in the spot light. But then she had an epiphany as she remembered the information she had acquired while eavesdropping at Archie's office. A devious smirk spread widely across Zelena's face as she devised a plan to collect much more power; which she believed was the key to keeping her son healthy, happy and of course, by her side.

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Hours after leaving the diner, Ruby and Graham discovered that the first night as new parents was anything but a walk in the park. Even though their initial plan to have Rowan asleep by 8:00PM had failed, they managed to get her down at 9:30; which wasn't all that bad. She stayed asleep in the co-sleeper for approximately two and a half hours. As Ruby got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night as she regularly did, she looked over into the co-sleeper to check on Rowan and was mortified to see that she was gone.

A few days after Rowan was born, Ruby promised that she would no longer be the one to wake Graham up in the middle of the night. If he did wake up in the middle of the night, it would now be because of another girl in his life. As much as it pained Ruby to break her promise to not wake Graham up, this time it was extremely necessary.

"Graham! Wake up! I think she's gone! Rowan's gone!" Ruby said as she rapidly ripped the blanket off of Graham and threw a pillow on him to wake him up.

Even though Graham was head of the police force in Storybrooke, he knew he would not be able to solve the case of his missing daughter alone, so swiftly dialed Emma's number and prayed that she would answer.

"Graham, what's up? How's life as a new dad?" Emma asked groggily as she answered the phone on the third ring.

"Well, it would be better if Rowan was actually here! Ruby thinks she's gone missing! Graham exclaimed.

"Oh my gosh! I'll be right over" Emma said as she hung up the phone.

Regina felt Emma abruptly rise out of bed and she immediately followed suit.

"What's wrong?" Regina asked.

"Graham says Rowan might be missing. I have to go into work. Go back to sleep, I'll be back soon" Emma assured her as she kissed her good night, grabbed her red leather jacket and headed out the door to her yellow VW Bug and drove to Graham and Ruby's place on that windy night.

~X~

Ruby stared long and sorrowfully at the empty white velvet Arms Reach co-sleeper as she and Graham waited for Emma's arrival. As Graham emerged from the bathroom after a midnight shaving session, he noticed his wife's glum posture and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"It's going to be okay, honey" Graham assured her.

"I'm already a terrible mother" Ruby sobbed. "But who in their right mind would think kidnapping a three week old baby is useful?"

"Don't talk about yourself that way. We'll find her. Don't worry" Graham assured her in response as he placed a kiss on top of Ruby's head.

Suddenly Graham's phone buzzed as he received a text message from Emma saying that she was outside their place waiting for them. As soon as they both read the message, Ruby and Graham headed out the door. Before it was too late to turn back, Ruby realized that she had forgotten two very important items. She ran as quick as her three week post partum self could and grabbed her red sweater from her closet, as well as the red silk and fleece blanket that Belle had given Rowan before she was born.
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"Ruby, do you have any idea who would want to hurt you and Graham by hurting Rowan?" Emma asked.

Ruby shook her head and said she swore that he brain was alert most of the night. If someone had come in through the window and kidnapped Rowan from the co-sleeper, she would have known. As the three of them continued to walk, Ruby held the red blanket up to her face to breathe in Rowan's scent and she suddenly knew exactly where she was. It could have been motherly instinct or simply the wolves sense of smell. Either way, she was relieved to know they were on the right track.

Ruby's sense of smell heightened as she, Graham and Emma traveled further and further into the woods to find Rowan. Emma abruptly stopped as she knelt down to tie her shoelace and discovered paw prints on imprinted in the soil underneath the dying grass.

"Those are probably just Pongo's. We have to get going" Ruby said as she briefly looked at the dirty tracks.

"I think we should follow the paw prints. I have a pretty strong feeling I know what's going on" Emma insisted. Graham and Ruby by now had known better than to disagree with Emma, they willingly followed her lead in the quest to find their daughter.

Ten minutes later, Ruby suddenly stopped and claimed that she heard someone howl and it was an unmistakable wolf howl. However, it didn't make any sense. There was no full moon that night, plus Archie and Pongo were nowhere in sight.

"This way" Ruby said as she guided Emma and Graham to the town's old toll bridge.

Just as they arrived, Ruby spotted a wolf puppy as white as snow running through the grass woods and licking its paws.

"What a beautiful puppy! I wonder what it's doing out here with no identification, though" Emma said with a perplexed look plastered onto her face.

Ruby looked at Graham with a spark in her eyes before looking at Emma and responding "that's no ordinary wolf pup. That's our daughter".

Deep down Emma knew that Ruby was right, but she just wanted to be one hundred percent sure that Ruby knew what she was doing. Before Emma could warn her to take caution of the situation, she was already slowly approaching the frightened pup and assure her that she would not get hurt. As the wolf pup timidly climbed into Ruby's lap, she quickly wrapped her in the red blanket and not surprisingly, it returned Rowan back to her human form. For that, Ruby was eternally grateful.

"I'll never let you out of my sight again. I'm so sorry, Rowan Belle" Ruby said. As she held her daughter close against her chest and gently rocked from side to side, a tear drop of joy descended from the corner of her right eye and down to the tip of her nose.