Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ichabod Crane adjusted his glasses on his long, hooked nose as he laid in wait. The clock mounted on the wall of the Business Office read 11:47, long after hours. Still, Snow White remained at her desk; it wasn’t unusual for her to stay at the office past midnight. This seemed to play out in his favor, he thought, since the damned monkey (Crane didn’t particularly care to call Bufkin by his name) was either asleep or so drunk he couldn’t fly straight if he tried.

 Snow bit her cherry colored lip in concentration at the one nagging detail in the Fabletown ledger that absorbed all her thoughts. Crane prayed that she was too focused to notice he was staring at her midnight black locks and soft pale face that turned heads wherever she went, or if she did notice, he hoped she would sneak a glance at him too. She started to pack up her things, keys, pens, and some of Fabletown’s financial files.

 “Mr. Crane, I’m leaving for the night. Do you want me to lock up for you?” Snow pulled her purse over her shoulder, dragging her feet. She hadn’t slept in what felt like days, and all she wanted just then was to collapse in her bed.

 “One moment, Miss White. I’d like to have a word with you,” Crane smirked, it was time. His lip curled further when her eyebrows shot up in confusion. “It will only be a moment.”

 “Alright, what did you want to talk about?” Snow shifted from foot to foot. She wasn’t in the mood for another gripe session about her work. Crane stalked to the door, locked the door, and dropped the key in his pocket, so nobody could enter from both sides without busting the lock. Snow took a step back, why would he feel that he had to lock the door for just a quick conversation?

 “Miss White, I’ve actually wanted to speak with you for some time,” Crane closed in on Snow like a spider would a fly, who just realized she was in the corner of her office-nook, trapped. “I have something to confess to you. In recent years, I have become quite enamored with you.”

 “This is h-hardly appropriate,” Snow moved slightly right; the gears in her head were turning, figuring out how to out-maneuver Crane. He was already too close for comfort.

 “Damn whatever’s appropriate, Snow,” Crane leaned in closer, feeling like quite a romantic when Snow was frankly appalled. She could feel his breath on her cheek. “I want you, I have for some time. I love you, and coming to this office every day and seeing you has been torture.”

 His hands trailed down to her blouse, as he fumbled to undo the first button by her collar. Snow quickly swatted his hands away, and made an attempt to move out of his way. “I’m not interested, Mr. Crane, please don’t touch me.”

 Undeterred, he continued, “There is no reason you need to hide how you must feel, nobody can interrupt us.”

 “Stop, Crane, get your goddamn hands off me!” Snow gritted her teeth, the feeling of panic and fear that she knew so well set it. She was no stranger to being a victim.

 Crane disregarded her fear and protests and gripped the back of her neck, and pulled her in for a kiss. Snow was sickened, she felt disgusting and powerless being kissed by this monster, she tried to scream, but he silenced her. How the hell could she over power him?

In his office, Bigby put out another cigarette as he reorganized Jack’s file. After a recent weekend long bar crawl through Manhattan, his file doubled in size. Concurrently, his irritation was increasing with it. He knew that being the Sheriff was better than being speared by the Adversary’s forces (well, sometimes better), paperwork still pissed him off to no end, and Jack’s little escapade had him working all night.

After filing all his breaking and entering reports, Bigby immediately noticed something was wrong. Something about Snow’s scent changed in a split second. He could always sense her mood based on subtle changes, but it was rarely this drastic. Snow was often lonely, and rarely truly happy, but this was something even more unusual, pure fear and anxiety. Was he being too paranoid? No, he decided, if there was something he could boast, it was that his nose was never wrong. He followed his instincts and rushed down to the Business Office.

Back at the office, Snow weighed her options carefully, even though her head was pounding, her knees felt like overcooked pasta, and she felt sick to her stomach. As Crane started to reach for the buttons on her blouse again, Snow grabbed the nearest object in her reach, in this case, one of the antique vases from the Homelands Bluebeard donated, and smashed it against the side of Crane’s head. He could forgive her for that later, she thought.

 Snow hyperventilated as he fell to the floor, groaning in pain. She got on her knees and fumbled for the key in his pocket, when the door suddenly busted open. Bigby dashed in, and took in the scene. Snow looked uninjured, but Crane was curled up on the floor, seemingly unconscious. “Snow, are you okay? What the hell happened here?”

 “Crane locked the door when I tried to leave, and… and told me he loved me,” It took all of Snow’s energy to keep back tears, she hadn’t had this much trouble taking deep breaths since the Homelands.

 “Snow, you gotta breathe for me. What did Crane do after he said he loved you?” Bigby put a warm hand on her shoulder. She couldn’t decide if it was a comfort or not after what Crane did.

 “He kissed me, and started unbuttoning my… then he groped me. Just... I... Where’s Mayor Cole? I need to talk to him, now.”

 “Forget about him for a second. Are you okay? Did Crane hurt you?” Bigby looked over her pale face. She was scared as hell, but Crane clearly didn’t beat her, which was a relief to Bigby.

 “I-I’m alright,” Snow assured, and gestured to Crane. “What should we do with him?”

 “I’ll drag him up to the Mayor’s place. You’re reporting this, right?”

 “Of course,” Snow stood up and smoothed her skirt. “Let’s go, then.”

Snow marched out of the Mayor’s office with Bigby at her heels. The appeal to the Mayor went as she expected. The Mayor looked sympathetic but skeptical that Crane would ever try something like that. Just like Snow knew everything would work out, Cole still doubted her, even with Bigby’s explanation, Cole obviously deeply trusted Crane. Snow crossed her arms as she entered the elevator, pressing the button for her floor much harder than necessary.

 “Look, Snow, once Crane wakes up, it’ll prove you right. That perverted fuck won’t be working in the office for much longer.” Bigby attempted to console Snow.

 “What did I expect from Mayor Cole? He trusts that… that sick asshole.”

 “We can find something to prove it, so Cole can’t dispute it.”

 “I don’t want to think about Crane right now, I’m just going up to my apartment. I need to sleep, or at least lay down.” Snow sighed, and fished through her purse for keys.

 “If you need help, Snow, you know my number, right?”

 “I remember, Mr. Wolf, thank you,” The elevator opened at Snow’s floor. “I forgot to ask. How did you know to come into the office when you did?”

 “I, uh, heard something. Night, Snow.”

 “Goodnight, Mr. Wolf.” Snow stepped out of the elevator and trudged to her apartment. It took her multiple tries to get the key in the door, since her hands were still shaking. When she got all her things put in their respective places, and changed into pajamas, her sleepiness melted away when Snow remembered the one nagging detail that kept her in the office so late.

 She fell back on her couch and flipped through the government ledger. There was a small inconsistency of a couple thousand dollars from barely a month ago, where money was taken out, but wasn’t properly recorded. Snow shuffled through her bag for Crane’s Fabletown Bank account records that she pulled out from under Crane’s hooked nose.

She had him.

 Just as Snow expected, all of the inconsistencies in the ledger where the same as the ones in his financial records. For once, Snow was grateful for Crane's sloppy work. She smiled, this was her evidence. This was her proof that Crane had embezzled money from  Fabletown, this was Snow’s reason to get him fired. If Cole was too blind to see his friend’s monstrosity after Snow’s composed explanation and Bigby’s much less composed rant, then this would be it.

 Snow laid the books on her dresser, and went to bed with a sick feeling, like everywhere on her body that Crane touched was coated with layers of filth. She closed her eyes and at least managed to savor the feeling of knowing she got the last hit with the vase. But, besides all her feelings of victory, she was still bitter. That stupid vase from some god forsaken world that was already in the hands of the Adversary wasn’t enough. Maybe there’s no revenge that will make her not feel like she’s covered with grime when she thinks about Crane, she thought, as she drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

When Rose saw all the signs being plastered up around Manhattan, and heard all the excited talk about the first fully animated movie, Rose knew she was going to see the damn thing. It was a long time coming, in her view. Mundies were obsessed with Snow, of course they chose her to make a stupid movie about. It was fitting, since to Rose, nobody ever let it die down that they were sisters; it was only fate that made sure Rose had to see her twin on every poster in town.

Rose was used to the questions. Are you Miss White’s sister? You don’t look alike, aren’t you twins? Could she not find you a job at the business office? (Begrudgingly, we’re fraternal twins, and she wouldn’t have me in the office, even if she could find a position). Just because she was used to the questions doesn’t mean it never bothered her.

She paid for her ticket, and sat in her seat like she was reporting for jury duty. Rose crossed her arms and fished out a cigarette when the news report started playing. For what was supposed to be a fun and lighthearted movie, all this talk about the stock market and economic crisis was enough to kill the mood. Then the music cued in.

Even though Rose was more in tune with Mundy culture than most Fables were, she was still surprised at the scale of the film. Sure, the fact that it was about her sister made her annoyed the whole way through, but she could admit that it was a pretty film. Whoever made it ignored all the gritty bits, Rose thought, like her sister nearly dying three times instead of just the one the movie showed.

Rose sat in solemn silence until the end, where Charming carried Snow away to the castle, where they all lived Happily Ever After. She snorted, wishing they included the part where she joined in. Her stomach coiled at the thought. She promised herself she wouldn’t feel guilty when she knew she was justified. It wasn’t her fault she slept with Charming, Snow had to learn her lesson.

She turned her guilt into more annoyance. No Rose Red in the story, just the entire world kissing Snow’s boots. It seemed like every person, Fable or Mundy, wanted to see the beautiful and successful Snow, not her screw-up fraternal twin. Rose gathered her things and trudged out of the theater to the street. It had been an overcast day when Rose walked into the theater, but now it was pouring rain, the way it used to every Spring back in the Homelands.

“Rose?” She knew who was calling her name immediately. The smooth and melodic voice that was tinged with the regret belonged to Snow, who stood by her on the sidewalk, with an umbrella and a bag of groceries in her arms.

“Funny seeing you here. So, I take it you just got back from viewing your own movie for the third time today?” Rose spat venomously. Snow blushed, and her forced smile melted away in hurt. Rose knew that Snow didn’t care about the Mundy movie, but the words came out anyway.

“No, I just picked up some things for Mr. Crane. Do you want to get under the umbrella? It’s pouring out here,” Snow gestured to the blue umbrella she held. “There’s enough room.”

“Fine,” Rose shrugged and stepped under it, grateful for the shelter from the unforgiving rain, but she didn’t feel inclined to thank her. “I just saw your movie, you know?”

“I guessed that you did.”

“What, you already guessed it? Well, Snow, I’m glad it doesn’t come as a goddamn surprise to you that everyone wanted to see your little happy ending.” Rose let her argumentative nature take over.

“No, Rose, the ticket stubs you’re holding.” Snow pointed to the tickets in her sister’s hands, who suddenly didn’t feel as though she had the upper hand anymore, and was feeling a whole lot less smart. She hated talking with her sister because of this, she always felt stupid.

“It was just like I expected.” Rose remarked.

“What do you mean?” Snow said. Rose always prided herself on one thing once she got to Fabletown and became a nobody. She knew her sister well, and she was hurt, Rose had chipped away a lot of what must be a stone heart.

“Sappy, fake, and the happy ending was sickly sweet. I just wish they stuck a bit closer to the source material, it would’ve made a better movie. But hey, you and your pet wolf should like it fine.” Rose hadn’t noticed that they’d already walked to her destination, the Eggman Diner, where she’d been waitressing for a couple extra bucks (a job that Snow got her).

“Why is everything always fighting with you, Rose? It’s always some war about Charming or whatever job you’ve been fired from this time. I’m trying my best, why do you need to punish me like some damn animal?” Snow replied. Rose noticed the hurt was still there.

Pissed off, Rose stormed into the Eggman, and didn’t start working until Snow was safely out of site. She started her shift to get her mind off it, her sister, the movie, those last comments. God, she needed a drink.