Daughter of the Moon

Chapter 10

After the heart stopping incident of losing Rowan, Ruby remained true to her promise. She never left her daughter a day or second after that. She went to work the next day and decided to baby wear Rowan in the Tula. When she entered Archie's office, she wasn't shocked to see that Zelena and Oliver had returned. However, she did start to question how much involvement Robin Hood actually had, seeing as she had not seen him since she and Graham introduced Rowan to the group at Granny's Diner.

"Hello, Zelena" Ruby said, attempting her best at a cheerful face; when in truth, the easily jealous enchantress scared the living day lights out of her.

"Hello, dear, Red. Dr. Hopper tells me you'll be taking notes during Ollie's session today. Am I correct?" Zelena asked.

Ruby nodded nervously and looked down at Rowan on her chest, happily asleep in the Tula. She hadn't known Zelena for very long, but she had been advised by almost everyone in town; especially, Mary Margaret to not let Zelena anywhere near her daughter. Zelena observed and made small talk about how cute Rowan was and that two years ago, deep down, she was really praying she would have a girl. But she was just as satisfied with the son she was given. She then went into depth about her plan as discreetly as possible, so as not to frighten Ruby and to have to resort to using more magic than she planned.

The two mother continued to talk for approximately five minutes until Archie came back to his office from walking Pongo.

"Okay", Archie began. "Lets talk about how Oliver is doing".

Just this once, Zelena was tired of having to talk about her son and their life at home. As her mouth explained all of the changes she had noticed in her son; whether good or bad, her mind was hard at working thinking of the best way to have Ruby agree to use Rowan for her powers. This continued for approximately another hour and a half. When Oliver's session was over, Zelena handed Ruby a piece of paper with her and Robin's phone number and said that they should get together some time.

"We'll see" Ruby replied, careful not to make any promises.

As soon as Zelena and Oliver left, Henry entered with his book of fairytales. He entered with a panicked expression on his face and his index finger caught on a certain page in the middle of the large brown leather bound book of fables.

"Henry, what's wrong?" Ruby asked.

Henry went on to explaining that he feared that Rowan may in danger because of what he had read in the book. The power of the book was that there was never a dull moment and you would never read the same thing more than once. Much like their lives in Storybrooke, things in the book given to him by his maternal grandmother were always changing.

"You can't let Zelena anywhere near Rowan or bad things will happen. She's more wicked than she seems" Henry responded with a fearful stutter.

"I'm sure that's not true. Plus, she's your aunt. How could you afford to think that way just because Regina does?" Ruby asked as he gently stroked his arm with a free hand.

"Ruby, could I hold Rowan for a while? I've been waiting so long to meet her" Henry asked giddily as his panicked expression altered into a smile of great joy.

As worried as Ruby was, she knew that she could not deny Henry the opportunity to meet his best friend's daughter. So, she gently took her slumbering daughter out of the baby carrier and slowly passed her down to the awkward but relax teenage boy. Henry was amazed as he marveled at how sweet and calm Rowan seemed. Even as she slowly began to wake up and realized that she was in the arms of someone she had formally met yet, she was completely okay with it and did not cry at all. A small tear fell from the corner of Henry's eye as Rowan reached up and grabbed his index finger with her tiny fist.

"She likes you. Good job, bud" Ruby smiled as she observed her daughter in the arms of one of the smartest men she ever came to know. In Ruby's mind, there was no denying that Rowan already had an impact on Henry. As he held her, he had changed from highly anxious to someone who was more relaxed and at peace. It was at that moment that she knew her daughter could make a difference and change people's lives.

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Later that night, Graham and Ruby remembered the importance of keeping Rowan dressed in something red at night. Since she was still so young, her wolf genes could activate even if there was no full moon, so the parents knew that they had to take caution. Ruby rummaged through the drawer of clothing in Rowan's nursery until she found the perfect outfit for Rowan to wear to bed; which was a red sleeper that had DADDY'S LITTLE PRINCESS written on it. Once she was changed, Ruby passed her on to Graham while she got Rowan's bottle ready.

Since Ruby wasn't all too sure how she felt about breastfeeding a baby that was also a werewolf, she decided that it would be much more efficient if she bought and made the formula. Once Ruby was done preparing Rowan's dinner, her heart started to swell at the sight of her daughter and husband looking adoringly at each other. She hated to break up such a breathtakingly beautiful bonding experience, so she just handed Graham the bottle and let them bond more because they had not seen each other for most of the day.

Rowan had no trouble falling asleep and staying that way for the remainder of the night after she had been fed and burped. But Ruby was having a lot more difficulty falling asleep due to the eventful day she had and the news she received. She wondered if Henry could be right and if it could have been the reason Zelena was acting so nice during her son's session.

Ruby explained everything to Graham, and he could sense that she felt pretty strongly about everything she had just been through. As someone who once had his heart literally ripped from his chest, Graham learned to identify when people were really upset even though he could not sympathize with them very well. Tonight he could tell that Ruby was telling the truth. but he didn't want to give her false hope that everything would work out because he wasn't even convinced of that himself.

"The most we can do is try our best to protect her. We won't let Zelena win this round" Graham responded as he wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulder and kissed her quivering lip.