Chapter Text
A lot had happened in the summer of 1986. A heatwave was the least of their problems when two Fables showed up dead, but then it blew into an even bigger horrible situation with an underground crime ring headed by a manipulative bastard. And to top it all off, Ichabod Crane was revealed to have an obsessive lust towards Snow White that still made her sick to her stomach every time she thought about it for too long. But something worse happened that same year after those events, during the Remembrance Day Ball.
Well, a lot would argue it wasn’t anywhere near as bad, but to Snow it was.
“Miss White?”
Snow snapped her head up from her new desk as Deputy Mayor. Boy Blue was standing in front of it holding some papers out to her while Bufkin flew around to organize the books.
“I have some early donations to file.” Blue continued.
“Oh,” She took them from him. “Thank you.”
He nodded and went back to his desk and she went about her work. That lasted for five minutes until Sheriff Bigby Wolf walked in. Snow didn’t need to look up to know it was him, she knew him too well at this point, and no one else gave her the feeling of butterflies tickling the inside of her chest. Until later that night she always assumed that she got that feeling from him because of how close they were as friends. What a fool she was.
“‘Morning, Snow.” He greeted, smiling in his usual way that always made her feel special.
“Good Morning,” She smiled back. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”
“Boredom.”
Snow snorted. “Ah, that pesky thing.”
He was smoking and though she’d say otherwise, she actually didn’t mind it. She didn’t mind the smell and for some silly reason, whenever she would look at him smoke she thought he looked quite attractive. He looked so casually masculine and in control. Snow was anything but blind, she knew that Bigby was ruggedly handsome, but he seemed more so with a cigarette.
She snapped herself out of it. “Seriously, do you have any business here? I have lots of work to do before tonight.”
“Nope. Just thought I’d pop in and say hi.” He was still smiling at her.
“Oh. Well, hello.”
“Hi.”
There was a quick moment of silence where they just stared at each other, then Bigby broke it by clearing his throat and taking his leave. She could have sworn he was blushing. Blue picked up on it as well and tried to tease her about it but a sharp icy glare shut him up fast.
The day went on and the daylight faded into the evening sky. Snow stood in front of her bedroom mirror, giving herself a last minute look over. She had chosen to wear a burgundy coloured dress that hugged her hips with a matching floral lace overdress with juliet sleeves. She’d also picked out pearl drop earrings and a burgundy coloured rose to wear on the side of her hair. She decided she looked beautiful and left her apartment to catch the carriage with King Cole.
The ride to the ballroom was never that long but as Mundy traffic increased every few years it seemed to be getting longer. Eventually, she and the Mayor arrived at their usual early time. The inside was decorated in a way that reminded Snow more of a highschool prom than a fancy ball, but King Cole had insisted on the balloons and streamers to further celebrate her becoming the new Deputy Mayor. And said balloons and streamers were hung around the walls. They looked metallic in colour and shined off the light from the chandeliers.
Slowly and steadily, more Fables showed up to the event and Snow greeted all of them like she did every year. Her sister swiftly walked passed her without a word, like usual. And Beauty didn’t bother hiding her distaste of Snow’s dress. Like usual. But she grinned and bared it as best she could. It was when King Cole started his annual speech that she finally saw Bigby enter the room, and again came the butterflies.
She thought of him through the entire speech. She thought of Bigby’s unrelenting hard work for the safety of the community and how gentle he could be. A lot of Fables didn’t look past his rough exterior to see that and it honestly annoyed Snow. He was willing to lay down his life for them and she saw that first hand this summer. The Tweedles had blown him full of holes and he was bloodied and vicious and still wouldn’t go down, not until Bloody Mary had shot him with a silver bullet. Snow had never been more terrified in her life the second she heard the gun go off. And the terror didn’t stop until Doctor Swineheart had said he was going to survive.
Man or wolf, Bigby was incredible. And it would have killed her to lose him.
Snow suddenly heard clapping. The speech was over. She joined in and pretended like she had been listening and raised her glass with everyone else to toast the event.
She had just left the stage when Cinderella grabbed her.
“Hi, sweetie! What’s up?” The blonde greeted her happily.
“Good evening, Cindy. How’s the party?”
“Super duper now that the deputy slimeball is gone.”
Snow couldn’t help but snort at the nickname. “I second that.”
“Glad to hear it,” Cindy said, leading her into the crowd. “Hey, can you help me settle a silly argument I’ve got going with Briar?”
“Of course.”
“Super! Follow me.”
Cinderella led her a little further away to where Briar Rose was standing around and talking with Bigby. Snow nearly halted in her tracks but Cindy kept going.
Bigby was wearing a traditional black suit that was probably too casual for a ball but damn did he make it work. The top three buttons of his dress shirt being unbuttoned were especially appreciated, but Snow would cut her leg off with a rusty saw before she admitted that out loud.
“All righty,” Cindy started. “I say Bigby can dance but Briar doesn’t believe me.”
“For the millionth time, I don’t care if he can dance or not. But if I had to choose, then it’d be that he couldn’t.” Briar said.
Bigby was just standing there a bit awkwardly.
“He totally can, I’d bet good money on it.” Cindy said.
“Why don’t you just ask him?” Snow suggested.
“We did. He’s not telling us.”
“I was gonna make a cool and mysterious exit afterwards but they wouldn’t let me.” Bigby explained, drinking from the flask he snuck in.
“Oh, poor thing.” Snow teased.
“I can prove he can dance with Snow’s help.” Cindy said.
“How? By letting the cat out of the bag? Or rather, the dog.”
“You’re hilarious.” Bigby deadpanned.
“No,” Cindy continued. “By Snow dancing with him! She knows him so well, she’d be able to tell if he was faking it or not.”
“Can’t we just agree to disagree?” Briar asked, clearly over this conversation.
Cindy ignored her and focused on Snow and Bigby. “What do you say, kids? Ready to prove Briar wrong?”
Bigby finally started to argue. “I’m sure Snow has other important people to talk to--”
But then Snow piped up. “Wait a minute, I’m curious myself.”
And so that was when Snow led Bigby to the dance floor. He gave her a puzzled look. “You made me get dance lessons back in the fifties, what gives?”
“Because Cindy clearly wasn’t going to let it drop unless we did dance.” Snow explained.
Cindy yelled over to them. “Make it a waltz, don’t just do the twist and call it a night!”
“Shit, there goes my plan.” Bigby joked.
Snow giggled as the slow music started up from the band. They got into position and she could feel the heat from Bigby’s hand through her dress. The sensation made a spark go up her spine and she felt her heartbeat pick up. She wondered for a moment if she was having a heart attack but when she didn’t get any other obvious symptoms it just left her more confused.
The pair moved along to the rhythm and Snow found it hard to look into his eyes. Those warm brown eyes that were like glowing gold when he was a wolf. She was so comfortable around him. He was keeping her at a respectable distance and she was dying for him to bring her in closer, so that their bodies were touching and he would fully wrap his arm around her waist and she could rest her head on his chest. Those butterflies were doing one hell of a number inside her and when they locked eyes, that was the moment it hit her.
Snow abruptly moved out of the embrace.
“Snow? Are you okay?” Bigby asked.
“I’m fine,” She replied, obviously lying. “I just, I’m suddenly not feeling well, I think I need some fresh air.”
“You want me to come with you?”
“No, it’s fine, I’ll only be a moment.”
Snow couldn’t have hurried out of that ballroom faster without breaking into a full run. She rushed down the hallways until she got to the front entrance of the building. The cool night air felt nice on her burning cheeks. Her mind and her heart were racing as if they were competing to see who would spiral out of control first. Of course, they made it to the finish line together and she felt like screaming.
Tonight she had found herself in love with Bigby Wolf.
And she hated it.
Love meant bad things for her. When she was young and about to go live happily ever after with Prince Brandish, her mother sent her away to live with her vain and evil aunt which lead to her indescribably horrible time in the woods. And her fairytale ending was ripped to shreds when her sister ruined her marriage to Charming. And since then she learned a sick truth. For the most part, men just lusted after her. And that was only proven more true with Ichabod Crane. Hell, sometimes she’d even caught Boy Blue checking her out.
Rationally she knew Bigby was better than that. But she couldn't risk it. She wasn’t dumb, she saw the blushing and the smiling and she knew that he felt some way towards her. And if him dying would kill her, finding out that he only cared about her body would destroy her. She couldn’t let anything romantic happen between them. She refused to. Even if it meant pushing him away and keeping him at a safe distance.
And that’s what she did the following work week.
Snow was twice as professional and poised, sharp and to the point. She was there to do her job as Deputy Mayor, not swoon over boys like a lovesick teenager. And she certainly wasn’t there to be chased after by disgusting men. And others noticed her change in attitude. All she would say in response was that she was done playing games. And of course, Bigby noticed too. Especially when she started calling him by his last name regularly again. She insisted everything was fine, but Snow knew he didn’t really believe her.
It wasn’t long before she heard people start to call her an ice queen. But she didn’t care.
And if she felt this lonely for the rest of time?
Well, so be it.