#nyczsq

After walking a few steps she could feel Henry beginning to lag behind. Glancing down at him it was clear his attention was elsewhere, and she followed his line of sight to see him watching a group of kids approaching a small wooden house down a dark side street.

He slowed his pace and Regina had no choice but to stop and wait for him.

They watched as the group of kids separated, the girls waiting by the gate and the boys puffing their chests outs and heading down the path.

Henry bobbed his head trying to see what was happening, but from their position on the other side of the intersection he couldn't see much further than the group of girls at the house's front gate.

After less than a minute the boys ran back up the path screaming in terror,  they ran right past the girls, who then joined in the screaming and ran after them down the street.

"Come on, let's go to the next street Henry, hmm?"

Regina tugged a little on Henry's hand and after a moment he continued walking.

They made their way down and then back up the little street, Henry managing to procure some Smarties, a Kit Kat, a Twinkie, two Almond Joys, three Snickers, and more Tootsie Rolls than he could count. She was definitely going to have to ration how quickly she allowed him to eat all of this.

When they reached the intersection between the streets once more Henry's attention was instantly focussed back on that dark little house.

This time a teenage boy was running back up the path towards his friends.

"Giant candy! Giant candy! Aaaaaahhh!" He yelled, running past his friends and grinning wildly.

The other kids watched him run past then looked back towards the house, as if trying to decide whether or not it was worth it. In the end they must have decided it was not, as they ran after their friend in the opposite direction of the house.

Regina felt Henry pulling on her sleeve and she looked down at him.

"What is it my little prince?"

"I want to go to that house."

He pointed over at the little wooden house and Regina frowned in concern.

"I don't know Henry…"

"Pleeeeeeeease Mom?"

He looked up at her with his big doe eyes and she could already feel her resolve start to waver.

"That kid said they were giving out giant candy, so they must be okay with trick or treaters. This can be the last house, then we'll go home, promise."

Regina sighed. She never had been very good at refusing her son what he wanted.

"Alright, fine. But if they are giving away giant candy you can only have one, okay?"

Henry nodded and they headed across the junction to the little side street with the wooden house.

When they reached the gate they paused, both taking a moment to survey the scene.

Most houses in the area went in for Halloween decorations, there were pumpkins and plastic bats everywhere along the street, but this house took things to a whole different level. It was downright creepy.

The path to the front of the house was overgrown and there were cobwebs hanging from every branch and bush, and splatters of blood dotted up the path, Regina wasn't sure but it certainly all looked real.

The only light came from a handful of candles flickering on the porch, but sure enough there sitting right out in the open in front of the screen-door was a cauldron full of giant sized candy bars. No wonder most of the kids tried to get over their fear enough to visit this house.

"Come on," Henry said, sounding remarkably cheerful in the face of a house that was even freaking Regina out a little.

He pulled out his little plastic sword, brandishing it in front of himself as he pushed open the gate and started down the path, Regina following closely behind him. She was trying to look in every direction at once as they made their way slowly to the front door, certain that there would be some kind of scary ambush in place that had made all the other children run away screaming.

But they reached the porch without incident and climbed the rickety wooden steps to peer inside the cauldron at the selection of treats on offer.

"Should I yell trick or treat?" Henry whispered, loudly enough that whoever was in the house had probably heard him anyway.

"I don't think that…"

Regina's words were cut off by a loud snarl to her right. She turned her head and came face to face with the bared and bloody teeth of a wolf.

She screamed.

Moving on instinct she grabbed the little wooden chair beside her and brandished it at the wolf, placing herself firmly in front of Henry.

Suddenly the snarling turned into more of a cackle and the wolf rose up taller than Regina, a very hairy and clawed, but still human, hand reaching up to its face and… pulling it off.

Long dark hair tumbled down around a beautiful woman's face. She was laughing and Regina suddenly felt very silly.

Of course it was just someone in costume and not a real wolf.

She surreptitiously put the chair back down and adjusted her hair.

"Awesome werewolf costume!" Henry cried excitedly, his head poking out around Regina's side.

"Thanks! It sure seemed to scare your mom though. Sorry about that by the way," the woman said, turning her attention to Regina and smiling.

Regina scowled at her in a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance.

"Tell you what," the woman continued, "to make up for it why don't I let you guys have the rest of this chocolate? I think I'm done with trick or treaters for the night. Plus this costume is kinda boiling me alive, I really need to get out of it."

"That's very kind of you but we should probably…" Regina found herself trailing off and losing her train of thought as the woman in front of her pulled down the zipper of her werewolf suit and stepped out of it to reveal a thin white tank top and very short shorts. She was tall and lithe, the flickering candlelight emphasising every line of her impressive abs through the fabric of her top.

"Mom can I eat this?"

Regina nodded absentmindedly, her attention focussed on the long legs on display in front of her as the woman bent over to pick her costume up off the floor.

"So did you get a good haul tonight then young man?"

"I sure did!" Henry exclaimed around a mouthful of chocolate, which was enough to snap Regina out of her distraction and back to reality.

"Henry! What have I told you about talking with your mouth full?"

"Sorry Mom," he mumbled, with no less food in his mouth.

The woman laughed loudly and reached over to ruffle Henry's hair.

"Henry eh? That's a very fitting name for a king. My name's Ruby, by the way."

She looked up through her eyelashes and Regina stuck out her hand towards her, feeling very flustered.

"Regina."

Ruby looked amused but shook her hand anyway.

"Well, this chocolate's not going to eat itself. You want some Regina? You guys are welcome to come inside and warm up for a bit. I could make some hot cocoa for you too."

Regina felt torn between her natural distrust of people, especially around Henry, and the fact that Ruby was incredibly attractive and seemed nice and relatively normal, well, if she ignored the werewolf costume.

"Oh that's very kind of you, but we should probably head home it's getting late..."

"Mom," Henry sighed, "there's still two hours until my bedtime. Do you have Halloween decorations inside the house too Ruby?"

Ruby scratched the back of her head, looking suddenly embarrassed.

"Um, technically no? But it's so rundown in there it looks a bit like a haunted house anyway. This place was my Granny's, I only just moved in, she left it to me when she died but it needs a lot of work."

There was a moment of awkward silence until Henry broke it.

"I like cinnamon in my cocoa, just so you know."

Ruby laughed and the moment passed.

"Alright, come on inside then."

She led them into the house and into the small living room, leaving them there to get comfortable as she went into the kitchen to make the hot cocoa.

The house was small and cosy, decorated in an old fashioned style that was rarely seen these days.

Henry settled himself into an armchair and began rummaging through the night's candy collection in his little plastic pumpkin.

"Oh man, someone gave me a toothbrush," he muttered glumly to himself.

Regina sat down on one end of a hideous floral couch and tried to resist the urge to make a comment about it.

After a few minutes Ruby entered the room carrying a tray loaded with three hot chocolates, all topped with cream, and one of them dusted with powdered cinnamon.

"Here you go Henry."

She passed him the mug then turned to Regina and passed one to her. Their fingers brushed as she took it, and she felt like a schoolgirl with a crush as her heart leapt at the brief contact.

Ruby took a seat at the other end of the couch and they all sipped their drinks in silence for a little while.

Suddenly Henry's little voice piped up from across the room.

"Ruby, will you go on a date with my mom?"

Regina inhaled sharply, coughing and choking on the hot chocolate in her mouth.

"Henry!" She croaked, hitting her chest with her fist until she felt able to breathe again.

Ruby, meanwhile, was laughing loudly.

"Henry my friend, I would love to go on a date with your mom, but only if she asks me herself."

She winked at him, and Regina began coughing and spluttering again, completely unsure how to react. Was Ruby being serious or just joking?

As if reading her thoughts Ruby turned her attention to Regina and smiled coyly.

"I'm not joking, by the way. I really would like to go on a date with you, if you're interested."

Regina felt like a rabbit caught in headlights. Obviously Ruby was extremely beautiful, but it had been so long since she had been on a date, and of course there was Henry to consider now.

She looked over at him, at his eager smiling face. He had little smudges of chocolate around his mouth and he was nodding at her, urging her to say yes. She was amazed all over again at just how much she could love him. Her beautiful baby boy who wanted to help his mother to find love and be happy.

Rubbing her stomach in a nervous gesture, Regina ignored the voice in her head which was listing off all the reasons she should say no, and turned to face Ruby.

"I… would like that very much too."

Ruby's smile was dazzling in response.

"Great, wow. I wasn't sure if you'd actually say yes, what with the whole scaring you witless first impression, that's great! Sorry, I'm babbling now."

Regina found herself smiling back.

"Are you free on Friday evening? I should be able to find a babysitter by then."

Ruby nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, absolutely, yes."

"In that case I will pick you up at eight. But now we really do have to go home, despite what he says it is almost this young man's bed time."

Henry rolled his eyes but didn't bother trying to protest. He jumped up out of his seat and placed his empty mug back on the tray.

"Thank you for the chocolate and the cocoa and for going on a date with my mom."

He ran forward and hugged Ruby, only coming up to her waist. She looked taken aback for a moment but wrapped an arm around his shoulders and ruffled his hair.

"You're very welcome for the chocolate, but the date is a bit more selfish I'm afraid."

Henry let go of Ruby and bounded over to Regina, taking her hand and pulling her up.

"Don't worry Ruby, I'll make sure she wears something nice."

Regina pulled a face at him.

"Excuse me, I always wear nice things. If anything you should make sure that Ruby doesn't wear her werewolf costume!"

Ruby laughed and walked them out of the house, they said their goodbyes and then Ruby waited in the doorway as they walked back down the garden path.

As they reached the gate Regina couldn't help but look back at her.

Ruby smiled and waved, and Regina waved back, finally allowing the events of the evening to truly sink in.

She was going on a date.

A date with the gorgeous brunette waving at her, and it was all thanks to her son.