Title: A Christmas Venture
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Characters/Pairing: Red, Dwarfs, Granny, and a surprise Disney character
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt: #68: Seven
Word Count: 1,538
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners, not the author.


They had tried everything. Tensions were beginning to run high, and even Grumpy was out of ideas. Doc watched the minutes ticking away on his pocket watch while three other Dwarfs surveyed their intended prey with longing.

Ruby sighed and ground her fangs in irritation. "I could try to distract her again," she offered, but every one of the seven Dwarfs shook their heads with remorse.

Sneezy started to speak but was stopped by yet another sneeze. "What he's trying to say," Grumpy translated, "is it won't do any good."

"But we do appreciate your help," Happy added, still smiling despite their rising hunger.

Ruby's eyes flashed primal. "I want them just as badly as you do."

Tiny's elbows plopping down on their table suddenly made it go down. "If I was big," he said, "she couldn't keep them from me."

"Oh, I don't know, Tiny," Red replied, her eyes shining. "My Grandmother's pretty ferocious when she's protecting her stuff."

"I could take her," Tiny declared.

"She could share them," Bashful murmured and then blushed when he saw Granny looking directly at him so sternly that he had to wonder if she'd somehow heard him despite the fact that they were sitting all the way on the other side of the busy cafe from where she guarded her goods.

"Or at least us buy them," Doc ventured. He ignored Grumpy's glower.

"What we need is a distraction," Ruby said again.

"We tried that already." Sneezy sneezed.

"Yeah," Bashful agreed, "and -- and as you good as you are -- " He twisted his beard in his nervous hands. " -- you still didn't keep her from hitting Grumpy."

"At least she didn't bite him," Sleepy spoke drowsily. He released a long and loud yawn. "I just want to forget about all of this and go to sleep."

"All you ever want to do is sleep!" Grumpy exclaimed.

Sleepy shrugged. "I might as well for all the luck we're having here," he yawned again, "but I can't close my eyes around her again!"

"As long as she doesn't feel like you're attacking what's hers," Ruby advised with a sly grin, "she won't bite you." Living underneath her grandmother's rules was hard. Keeping her off of her back was harder still, but she had to admit, secretly of course, that it was kind of cool to know that your grandmother could take on an entire village, or in this case, seven infamous Dwarfs and all their best techniques.

Her gaze turned back to her grandmother, and she watched the old woman as she worked. She looked directly at them from time to time, and Red knew she was hearing every word the Dwarfs exchanged as they tried to invent a new scheme for an ages-old dilemma. She knew she was right but didn't offer her friends any further advice. The only way they were going to get pass her grandmother's defenses was if they found a distraction that annoyed the old wolf enough that she forgot about the treasures she was guarding.

Ruby chewed her lip as she watched her grandmother mingle with her customers. If Snow had been there, she would have already charmed the old woman out of a few of her prizes, but her best friend was off doing something with her family as usual. She was glad Snow's family had been reunited, but she did miss her and the times they had spent alone together in the forest. She could trust Snow to have her back throughout anything and everything, and although she was the sweetest friend she'd ever known, she could also be delightfully cunning.

Her gaze swung to the door as it chimed again and another customer walked in. She sniffed; her eyes flashed. She smiled, baring her fangs, and looked back to her grandmother. Just as she had predicted, the old wolf had turned to meet the newcomer with eyes turned yellow and hands that, Ruby could tell from their positions at her sides, itched to yield her crossbow.

Sneezy and Sleepy were beginning to amble by her just at that moment, but Red swiftly snatched them back. "Not now," she hissed. "Watch!" Her eyes flashed with her command.

"That's just O'Malley," Sleepy spoke through another yawn. "He's harmless."

"Yeah, but he's also a cat. Granny doesn't really like cats." Just as she had known she would, her grandmother left her paying customers to advance on Thomas, who, despite his trembling on the inside, offered her his biggest and best smile. "Leave this to me," Ruby hissed again and began her own advancement.

As she moved stealthily across the cafe, carefully avoiding any one who might speak to her and every squeaky board in the room, Red kept her eyes trained on her grandmother and O'Malley. He showed up once a week, always asking the same thing. He wanted to play music at Granny's. He didn't even care how much he made; he'd play for tips alone and even give her a percentage of that. He just wanted a popular dive at which to hold his concerts, and Granny's was the only real establishment in town.

Ruby had heard him play before at parties underneath the full moon. He, Scat, and their band were cool, and they played the best jazz she'd ever heard. They could have been worldwide famous, however, and Granny still wouldn't have budged on letting "their" kind perform at her cafe. Ruby would have shaken her head if she hadn't been so intent on being careful and silent on her way to her goal. Wolves and cats could and should get along, especially when there were so few of their kind left in this modern world, but her Granny was too set in her ways to budge.

It was her grandmother's hard, brass attitude that made this task so difficult, as well. Any one else would have taken pity on the Dwarfs by now and shared their prize, or at least offered to sell it to them as Doc had suggested. Just about any woman would have been happy to share her treats with her granddaughter as well, especially on Christmas Eve, but not her grandmother. Her grandmother just had to be a hard ass!

Ruby's eyes were still trained on the old woman when she arrived at the counter and slipped behind it. A customer asked for a refill on their drink. Her answering glower and silent snarl made them beat a hasty retreat even as Granny began escorting Thomas to her door. At last, Ruby grabbed her prey.

She snarled as the Dwarfs cheered. Granny turned to see what was causing the commotion. Thomas slipped back in behind her. For once, she didn't notice the cat as she narrowed her eyes on her stealing granddaughter. "Ruby, I taught you better than that!"

Red grinned dangerously, her eyes alight with inner fire. "We Wolves take what we want," she teased and then beat a hasty retreat with her tray of goodies out the back door.

The Dwarfs joined her scant seconds later. "You were good," Grumpy actually spoke approvingly.

Red's eyes darted around their surroundings. "Where is she?" She'd thought she'd certainly come after her with her broom.

Five of the Dwarfs smiled. Sneezy sneezed, and Sleepy yawned. "Stuff a cookie in it," Grumpy muttered to him.

"That O'Malley fellow asked for a glass of milk," Tiny told Ruby, beaming.

She threw her head back and laughed. The Dwarfs joined. Their laughter rang throughout the chilly alley behind Granny's until the cafe's namesake herself showed up, wielding her broom high over her head. "Holidays!" she spat, her eyes glowing. "First cats and then betraying granddaughters!"

"Oh, lighten up, Granny. It's just cookies!" Red said through a mouthful of sweet, chocolate dough.

"It doesn't matter if it was cookies or money, young lady! I told you you couldn't have them, and you took them any way! That's stealing!"

"Uh oh." Tiny grimaced as Granny began to run at them, beating the air with her broom.

"Here." Grabbing her cookies, Red tossed the rest to Grumpy, who grabbed them in a leather pouch. Then all eight ran through the snow, laughing all the way and deftly avoiding their angry elder. Ruby kept running until Granny finally gave up and returned to her cafe and paying customers. She watched her go before collapsing on a pile of snow.

She waved her arms and legs through the cold, white substance and laughed even more. She was still laughing when the Dwarfs found and joined her. She grinned at them. "Now I know why you Snow liked you guys so much. I haven't had this much fun since the Enchanted Forest!"

Grumpy grinned. "Neither have I, sister," he admitted, then offered her one of his cookies -- after all, she had been the one to make their scheme a success -- and a tankard filled with hot cocoa. "Merry Christmas and all that stuff."

"All that stuff?" Red asked, an eyebrow piqued. Her eyes flashed once more. "Yeah." She chuckled and then whipped her long legs out from beneath her dress, knocking him down into the snow where she and the other Dwarfs promptly tackled him. "Merry Christmas, Grumpy."

The End